SPLC Files Motion Arguing Vindictive Prosecution by Department of Justice

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: SPLC

SPLC Files Motion Arguing Vindictive Prosecution by Department of Justice

May 26, 2026

Motion seeks dismissal of all charges against SPLC by the court

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a motion in federal court to dismiss the charges against the SPLC based on vindictive prosecution. The motion argues that the charges brought against the 55-year old civil rights organization are the result of targeting by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and amount to retaliation, violating the SPLC's constitutional right to due process.

Citing statements and actions by President Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, other high ranking DOJ officials and FBI Director Kash Patel, the SPLC posits that the charges against it were brought not because of any criminal activity, but because the SPLC has been critical of the Administration's policies and has published about extremist views held by Administration officials. According to the motion, the SPLC's advocacy work and its reporting on hate and extremism are protected by the First Amendment; disseminating the SPLC's research is public education and among the landmark work for which the organization is known.

"For weeks, we have been arguing against these false allegations levied against the SPLC -- an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multiracial democracy where we can all live and thrive," said Bryan Fair, interim president and CEO, SPLC. "The government can't prosecute the SPLC as payback for its protected speech -- it violates basic constitutional rights."

Some statements highlighted in the motion, like Blanche's false claim that there was not evidence the SPLC passed information to law enforcement in efforts to thwart the criminal activities of hate groups--which the prosecution in the case has conceded was untrue and that Blanche later corrected-- have also been the subject of other motions the SPLC has made showing how this prosecution is improper.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/motion-vindictive-prosecution-department-justice/

---

Reposted by Evil, Corrupt, and Weaponized Popehat
https://app.staging.bsky.dev/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

******
‪ Adam Klasfeld
‪@klasfeldreports.com‬

NEWS

The SPLC has moved to DISMISS its indictment for vindictive prosecution, kicking off its legal brief with Trump's "triumphant" statement three days after its charges were unsealed.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.almd.90265/gov.uscourts.almd.90265.49.1_1.pdf


5:23 PM · May 26, 2026
******
https://app.staging.bsky.dev/profile/klasfeldreports.com/post/3mmrwgxsvls23

******
Adam Klasfeld
‪@klasfeldreports.com‬

NOTABLE:

The SPLC alerts a federal judge in a footnote of its vindictive prosecution motion to the Trump Justice Department's grand jury misconduct in the Broadview Six case, arguing that it's another reason for sunlight on the sealed transcripts.


5:41 PM · May 26, 2026
******
https://app.staging.bsky.dev/profile/klasfeldreports.com/post/3mmrxicbnf22t

[hedda_foil]

1. You GO, SPLC!

Get the charges dropped, then sue the government for their malicious prosecution.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Southern Poverty Law Center seeks dismissal of criminal charges, saying prosecution is vindictive

This prosecution is clearly vindictive and should be dismissed

Link to tweet

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/southern-poverty-law-center-seeks-dismissal-criminal-charges-vindictive/

Washington — The Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday asked a federal judge to dismiss the criminal charges filed against it by the Justice Department, saying the indictment represents a "top-down, retributive campaign" directed by President Trump to target his enemies.

The 47-page filing in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama documents a series of public statements by the president and other top administration officials targeting the center, including one in which Mr. Trump called it "one of the greatest political scams in American History."

"This is the very definition of a vindictive prosecution," lawyers for the SPLC wrote. "The Court should dismiss the indictment as a violation of due process."

The Justice Department secured an 11-count indictment in April, charging the civil rights nonprofit with wire fraud and bank fraud. The indictment alleges that the group, which is best known for its work to oppose the Ku Klux Klan, lied to donors about paying confidential informants to infiltrate hate groups and deceived banks about the bank accounts used to make those payments....

Numerous former federal prosecutors have publicly weighed in on the indictment against the SPLC, saying it appears to be weak and has a likely chance of being dismissed due to a variety of legal defects with how the case is charged.

In the group's motion to dismiss the charges on Tuesday, its lawyers noted that investigators from the FBI and IRS probed the organization and interviewed several people sometime between 2019 and 2020, but never sought criminal charges.

[maxsolomon]

3. File for Weaponization Fund compensation, too.

I suggest requesting 1.776 billion.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. It sure looks like MAGA started to focus on the SPLC for potential prosecution right around the time ...

Reposted by Popehat Has Gone Absolutely CRAZY!!!
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

Michael Edison Hayden
‪@michaelehayden.bsky.social‬

It sure looks like MAGA started to focus on the SPLC for potential prosecution right around the time my story about Stephen Miller's private emails published. (End of 2019.)

I'm sure it's a total coincidence!


11:16 AM · May 27, 2026

It sure looks like MAGA started to focus on the SPLC for potential prosecution right around the time my story about Stephen Miller's private emails published. (End of 2019.)

I'm sure it's a total coincidence!

— Michael Edison Hayden (@michaelehayden.bsky.social) 2026-05-27T15:16:18.639Z

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Deadline Legal Blog-Southern Poverty Law Center cites rare Abrego vindictiveness victory in seeking dismissal

Defense lawyers said the civil rights group was only charged after “clear instigation by President Trump’s statements” and the actions of DOJ leaders.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/splc-vindictive-prosecution-doj-kilmar-abrego-garcia

Kilmar Abrego Garcia won a rare legal victory last week when a federal judge in Tennessee dismissed his indictment on the grounds that it was an unconstitutionally vindictive prosecution. The judge found that the Trump-controlled Justice Department charged Abrego only because he filed a successful civil lawsuit securing his return from El Salvador after the administration illegally sent him there in violation of a court order.

Because vindictive prosecution motions rarely succeed, it’s no surprise that Abrego’s win already features in a new motion to dismiss another set of allegedly vindictive charges, as lawyers for the Southern Poverty Law Center argue that the civil rights group’s Alabama indictment should likewise be dropped before trial.

In their motion filed Tuesday, the SPLC’s lawyers noted that “just last week, another federal court dismissed criminal charges in part because” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Deputy Associate Attorney General Aakash Singh had “directed a vindictive prosecution.” The defense lawyers called Abrego’s dismissal the latest “shift towards the demise” of any “presumption of regularity” owed to the Trump DOJ....

In their motion to dismiss, the group’s lawyers called the charges “the latest manifestation of a top-down, retributive campaign in which he [Trump] directed his Justice Department to go after those individuals and groups he deemed his political enemies, including the SPLC.” The defense lawyers said the indictment is retaliation for exercising First Amendment rights to identify, report on and criticize extremist hate groups.

“The Administration has falsely accused the SPLC of being ‘anti-Christian,’ of aiding the Biden Administration’s ‘weaponization’ of the Department of Justice, of participating in political violence, and, most recently, of helping to ‘rig’ the 2020 election against President Donald Trump,” the SPLC’s motion said, adding that those examples of the government’s “animus over the past year culminated in the criminal charges against the SPLC — an indictment premised on conclusory accusations but devoid of provable facts or a proper statement of the law.”

Abrego’s case isn’t the only one cited in the SPLC’s motion. But the group’s lawyers argue that their case similarly “reveals sufficient evidence of presumed vindictiveness to justify dismissal of the indictment or, at a minimum, as the court did in that case, to order discovery” before it rules. If the judge in the SPLC case orders such discovery as the next step, then that would allow for more of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the indictment before deciding whether to take the bold step of dismissing it as vindictive....

Attempting to show why their case should lead to the same result, the SPLC’s lawyers sought to draw a similarly corrupt timeline in their dismissal motion. They noted that no charges were brought after the Biden administration had reviewed the matter but then, they wrote, “as part of President Trump’s specific targeting of civil rights groups and his and his officials’ particular focus on the SPLC, a dormant or closed investigation was revived, and the charges in this case were filed.”

They said the resulting indictment came “after the clear instigation by President Trump’s statements, his executive orders, and the actions to implement those statements and orders by then-Attorney General [Pam] Bondi and Acting Attorney General Blanche, along with Director Patel.”