The Southern Poverty Law Center says a Justice Department indictment against the group is part of a “top-down” campaign of retribution against President Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies and represents a vindictive prosecution that must be dismissed.

The leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center has pleaded not guilty on behalf of the organization to charges that the civil rights group has defrauded donors by failing to disclose that money would be paid to informants inside extremist groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's indictment is sparking outrage among civil rights leaders.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has been indicted on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information.

Republican officials in Oklahoma and Florida have also launched plans to expand the presence of the conservative youth organization founded by Charlie Kirk.

FBI Director Kash Patel says the bureau is cutting ties with two organizations that for decades have tracked domestic extremism and racial and religious bias, a move that follows complaints about the groups from some conservatives and prominent allies of President Donald Trump.

The number of white nationalist, hate and anti-government groups around the U.S. dropped slightly in 2024, not because of any shrinking influence but rather the opposite.

The attorney general office’s lawsuit is based on an undercover video published in February by a conservative activist group.

Several civil rights groups are challenging Florida’s new immigration law in a federal lawsuit.

Four of the eight people killed in the North Texas attack were of Asian descent. Law enforcement officials said the gunman held neo-Nazi beliefs.

Over his six years at the Southern Poverty Law Center, Esteban Gil watched colleague after colleague leave.

Two families with transgender teens and two physicians have sued the state of Alabama to block a law that makes it a crime for doctors to treat trans youth under 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to help affirm their gender identity.

The number of white nationalist, neo-Nazi and anti-government extremist groups across the U.S. fell for a third straight year in 2021, even as some groups were reinvigorated by the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol last year.

FILE - In this July 7, 2020, file photo, crews attach straps to the statue Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. At least 160 Confederate symbols were taken down or moved from public spaces in 2020. Ad“These racist symbols only serve to uphold revisionist history and the belief that white supremacy remains morally acceptable,” SPLC chief of staff Lecia Brooks said in a statement. In December, a state commission recommended replacing Lee’s statue with a statue of Johns. He served as president of the Confederate States of America after becoming a U.S. senator, not before becoming a U.S. senator.

In its annual report, released Monday, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it identified 838 active hate groups operating across the U.S. in 2020. AdThe Montgomery, Alabama-based law center said many hate groups have moved to social media platforms and use of encrypted apps, while others have been banned altogether from mainstream social media networks. White nationalist organizations, a subset of the hate groups listed in the report, declined last year from 155 to 128. The number of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups remained largely stable, while their in-person organizing was hampered by the coronavirus pandemic. People who support or express hatred and bigotry are not always card-carrying members of far-right groups.

The resolution claimed that it puts conservative groups or voices at risk of attack.The SPLC, which conducts investigations and engages in civil rights litigation, said in a statement Monday that the resolution gave comfort to hate groups and accused the RNC of being selective in its condemnation. community with dehumanizing rhetoric.The resolution was the latest clash between the SPLC and conservative groups over the Alabama-based organizations Hatewatch list, which tracks radical and extremist groups. The civil rights group, championed by many on the left, has denied that assertion, saying that groups with beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics make their list. The RNC resolution cited the presence of the anti-abortion Family Research Council (FRC) on the list, accusing the SPLC of leading to a 2012 shooting at the FRC. The RNC also approved resolutions defending the federal celebration of the Christopher Columbus holiday; condemning cancel culture and reaffirming its support for President Donald Trump.