Southern Poverty Law Center Rebuffs DOJ on ‘False’ Statements

The Southern Poverty Law Center doubled down on its request for a federal court to order that the Justice Department refrain from making false statements on fraud charges against the civil rights group.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s admission in a Fox News interview that the SPLC turned over some information gathered from extremist group informants to law enforcement failed to sufficiently correct his earlier claim that “there’s no information that we have that suggests” the SPLC shared findings, the organization wrote Tuesday in a court filing.

DOJ, which last month announced an 11-count indictment against SPLC related to payments to individuals infiltrating groups like the Ku Klux Klan, said in a May 5 filing in the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama that Blanche’s follow-up comments “certainly suffice” in clarifying the remarks made in a separate interview that prompted the SPLC to demand a retraction.

The SPLC disagreed, writing in its Tuesday filing that “Blanche’s statement to a much smaller audience watching an entirely different show does not rectify the material prejudice of the initial false statement.”

“To ensure that the SPLC can seek effective recourse from the Court if DOJ does not follow the rules, the SPLC requests that the Court order the government—including DOJ lawyers not on the prosecution team in this District—not to make any such statements in the future,” the group said.

The filing is one of the SPLC’s latest responses pushing back on federal charges that it and its supporters have argued are an example of weaponization of DOJ under President Donald Trump’s second term.

DOJ alleges that the SPLC misled donors and banks by concealing payments made to individuals affiliated with the Klan, National Socialist Movement, the Aryan Nations, and other extremist groups.

The SPLC on Tuesday also reiterated its request for access to transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment. Public comments on the charges and deficiencies in the indictment “suggest the case did result from misleading both the public and the grand jury that voted on the charges,” the SPLC said.

These deficiencies, the group said, include the lack of elements of intent in the four counts of false statements to a bank. Some lawyers have said the lack of any mention that the SPLC knowingly intended to influence a financial institution action could be fatal to the case, or at the very least warrant access to transcripts of the grand jury proceedings.

In demanding access to the transcripts, the SPLC said various factors indicate DOJ isn’t entitled to the presumption of regularity courts traditionally afford to the government.

“This rushed timeline, combined with the amount of material produced to the government by the SPLC, makes it highly improbable that the grand jury was presented with a complete view of the evidence in the government’s possession,” the SPLC said.

DOJ had argued in a May 5 filing that the SPLC “has shown neither compelling nor particularized reasons to justify disclosure of grand jury materials.”

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, reply in support of motion 5/12/26.