Southern Poverty Law Center Moves to Toss ‘Vindictive’ Charges

The Southern Poverty Law Center asked a federal court to dismiss the Trump administration’s federal fraud charges against it, arguing the indictment is a form of vindictive prosecution.

The 11-count indictment brought in April accusing the civil rights group of misleading donors and banks by allegedly concealing payments to informants infiltrating extremist groups is “the latest manifestation of a top-down, retributive campaign” by President Donald Trump against his political adversaries, the organization wrote in its motion to dismiss filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Trump’s statements on the federal charges, including an April 24 post on Truth Social, shows the president was motivated to push DOJ to pursue the federal charges against the SPLC under a belief that the organization worked with others to alter the results of the 2020 election, the group said in the filing.

This, along with the SPLC’s argument that DOJ decided to pursue an indictment without reaching out to organization employees or legal counsel, “show that the charges against the SPLC were a foregone conclusion based on prosecutorial vindictiveness.”

The charges were “driven by the White House and FBI leadership’s retribution campaign—rather than the result of a good faith examination of the evidence,” the SPLC said.

The filing asked the court to toss the case and bar DOJ from bringing a new indictment. It’s the latest attempt by the organization to push back on the allegations that have attracted criticism from the group’s supporters and former federal prosecutors.

Attorneys have questioned the strength of the government’s case, along with evidence DOJ presented that led the grand jury to charge the SPLC with wire fraud, false statements to banks, and money laundering.

DOJ in Trump’s second term has faced claims of politicized prosecutions of his perceived enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).

Vindictive prosecution arguments are typically difficult to win, due to the presumption of regularity courts have historically afforded DOJ, or the understanding that the government is acting in good faith.

The SPLC argued that DOJ isn’t entitled to this presumption in its request for access to grand jury transcripts. The timeline in which the indictment was secured, along with information the SPLC provided the government on its paid informants program, “makes it highly improbable that the grand jury was presented with a complete view of the evidence in the government’s possession,” the organization said in a May 12 filing.

DOJ representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The SPLC is represented by defense lawyer Abbe Lowell, along with attorneys at Kropf Moseley Schmitt PLLC and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.

The case is United States v. Southern Poverty Law Center, M.D. Ala., No. 2:26-cr-00139, motion to dismiss 5/26/26.