Washington, D.C. — The condemnation has been swift and unsparing. On Tuesday, Donald Trump’s Justice Department announced a bogus indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, and civil rights leaders, legal scholars, elected officials, and advocacy organizations from across the country have spent the week calling it out for what it is: a politically motivated abuse of prosecutorial power designed to silence those who oppose this administration. If the SPLC can be indicted for fighting hate, no civil rights organization is safe.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY):
“The Trump administration is waging a vindictive campaign against the organizations that safeguard our democracy. Weaponizing the DOJ to indict long-standing watchdogs is a message: if you defend voting rights, fight white supremacy, or protect civil rights, you’re next. This is an assault on the institutions that make freedom real for everyone. They will not succeed.”
Former Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL):
“Charging the Southern Poverty Law Center with a federal crime for paying informants to help dismantle hate groups is an outrageous weaponization of the Dept of Justice and the FBI. As someone who has been a prosecutor and has taken on the Klan I can tell you that use of paid informants is a common tactic used to dismantle drug cartels, the mob and extremist groups on both the right and the left. It is clear that all civil rights organizations are in the cross hairs of this Administration and that folks, puts everyone at risk.”
Josh Moon, Alabama Political Reporter:
“To be absolutely crystal clear, despite what the head of the FBI and the acting U.S. attorney general said on Tuesday, the SPLC did not use donated funds to ‘manufacture extremism’ or ‘stoke racial hatred.’ Making such a claim, as both Kash Patel and Todd Blanche did, is something akin to accusing the FBI of manufacturing loan sharking because it paid informants and infiltrated organized crime. That’s essentially what the SPLC was doing.”
Michael Edison Hayden, MS NOW:
“Imagine, for a moment, believing the SPLC — or any other civil rights organization — needed to fraudulently manufacture racism to sell it in today’s America. Just two months ago, the president shared an artificial intelligence-generated video depicting his Black predecessor and his predecessor’s Black wife as primates. In early 2025, the Trump administration suspended refugee admissions from majority non-white countries while investing in a special program to fast-track white South African Afrikaners into the United States. Racism is not a rare commodity in this country to be manufactured — it’s cheap and easy to find.”
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson:
“Trump’s DOJ has been weaponized by dangerous forces. Every organization and individual engaged in social justice should be alarmed. What we are seeing in real time is an administration seeking to leverage its position to target individuals and organizations that do not agree with its political thought. The NAACP is a part of that community, but our work will remain the same — advocating to ensure equal protection for all Americans is achievable.”
CREW President Donald K. Sherman:
“That the same administration that has gone out of its way to pardon white supremacists and other extremists for seditious conspiracy would then accuse SPLC of backing these groups would be laughable if it weren’t so terrifying […] This is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to rewrite American history, prosecute dissent and erode the civil rights of millions of Americans. By going after SPLC like this, it is clear who the administration supports in the fight against white nationalism.”
Alliance for Justice President Rachel Rossi:
“Time and again, this administration has demonstrated its eagerness to stand on the wrong side of history. First, we saw Trump pardon January 6 insurrectionists and then try to paint anyone anti-fascist as a ‘terrorist,’ and now, he’s directly attacking an organization that works to resist hate and extremism. What conclusion can be drawn other than that Trump and his administration are on the side of fascism, hate, and extremism?”
People For the American Way President Svante Myrick:
“Donald Trump and his corrupt Department of Justice are abusing the power of the federal government to wage war against American values and the people and organizations that stand up for them […] They have turned the Justice Department, once a powerful force for good, into a reactionary weapon for dismantling a century’s worth of progress.”
Campaign Legal Center President Trevor Potter:
“Civil rights organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center play a critical role in our democracy, working to protect people from hate and discrimination and safeguard Americans’ fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to vote. Dismantling civil rights protections while attacking organizations that exist to defend those rights is an alarming escalation of this administration’s ongoing efforts to undermine our cherished democracy and advance an authoritarian agenda.”
POGO Interim Executive Director Isabel Munilla:
“No president should use federal power to silence perceived political enemies. The administration’s attack on the Southern Poverty Law Center is part of an alarming pattern to intimidate and silence public interest organizations. First, they targeted law firms defending individual freedoms. Now, they are targeting non-profits that expose misconduct and injustice.”
American Constitution Society:
“Over the past 15 months, the Trump administration has shown no hesitation in weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to bring lawsuits and criminal charges targeting individuals, law firms, and universities with whom it disagrees on policy or politics. It is shameful that they have now added nonprofit groups defending our democracy and our rights to that list. This is a clear abuse of power.”
Constitutional Accountability Center Vice President Praveen Fernandes:
“Perhaps it should come as no surprise that a presidential administration helmed by a man who has offered clemency to members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers would now go after the nonprofit organization that monitors such dangerous extremist groups. Our Constitution and our nation’s laws have long depended upon civil society groups to make real the law’s promises—including the promise that people can work, vote, and live free of discrimination and fear. We are all less safe when groups that do such critical work are targeted and intimidated.”
Public Citizen Co-President Lisa Gilbert:
“Trump and his DOJ’s villainous targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center is yet another example of the dangerous, overreaching abuse of executive power so endemic in this authoritarian administration. This is a craven attempt to silence dissent by attacking a core civil rights organization focused on combatting violent extremism.”
Declaration for American Democracy Coalition:
“Trump and his DOJ’s recent targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center is a blatant attempt to intimidate civil rights organizations from doing the important work of defending Americans’ freedom to live free from hate and discrimination. This administration is taking actions to dismantle our civil rights and secure absolute power — free of accountability from watchdogs and organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center, who have a longstanding history documenting hate and violence while standing up for civil rights.”
MoveOn Executive Director Katie Bethell:
“The targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is yet another example of the Trump administration’s extreme and unprecedented efforts to silence its critics. At a time of serious domestic and international threats, it is unconscionable that Donald Trump’s Justice Department would waste time and money to carry out another political vendetta.”
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