SPLC’s ‘Hate Group’ Labelling Under Legal Scrutiny

A federal judge’s ruling could pave the way for details to be released on how the Southern Poverty Law Center labels certain conservative organizations as hate groups, the Washington Examiner is reporting.

The ruling came in a case in which U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins in Georgia has rejected a motion from the SPLC to dismiss a defamation suit involving the Dustin Inman Society. The group is challenging its “hate group” label, according to the Examiner.

The society is named for a 16-year-old who was killed in a 2000 car crash caused by an illegal immigrant.

“We’ve overcome what I am told is the biggest and most often interjected hurdle when people try to fight back against the well-funded Southern Poverty Law Center,” D.A. King, founder and president of the Dustin Inman Society, told the Examiner.

A “hate map” is published by the SPLC. In 2021, it monitored 733 organizations it deemed to be “hate groups” in the U.S.

The SPLC has said the designations are protected under the First Amendment.

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told Newsmax last month that the SPLC “should be investigated” for how they classify extremists.

“If we had a legitimate FBI and a legitimate … Justice Department, they would be investigated by the feds,” he said on “John Bachman Now.”