I've been suspicious of the Southern Poverty Law Center for some time. The SPLC, a nonprofit founded in 1971, was built to combat hate and discrimination. The mission sounds worthy enough. But then the group began publishing its annual "Year in Hate and Extremism" report, identifying hundreds – sometimes more than 1,000 – "hate groups" across the United States.

In 2019, it labeled Alliance Defending Freedom, a prominent conservative legal organization, a "hate group." Calling a firm that focuses on First Amendment and religious liberty cases a hate group is like calling a defense attorney a criminal for representing the accused.

For many conservatives, that was a bridge too far, and it eroded their trust in the SPLC.

I thought I might have been onto something. It turns out the situation could be even more serious.

Charges against Southern Poverty Law Center are damning

On April 21, a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, indicted the SPLC on 11 counts, including wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment alleges that between 2014 and 2023, the organization........

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