The Justice Department Sides With the Ku Klux Klan
Another troubling aspect of the indictment is its target: the SPLC itself. The Justice Department chose to bring these charges against the nonprofit organization itself, rather than the individual members who allegedly committed the underlying offenses. The SPLC obviously cannot be imprisoned if found guilty. But he could be forced to confiscate “any property, real estate or personal, which represents or is traceable to the gross receipts obtained, directly or indirectly, from the offenses” with which he is accused.
In other words, this looks like an intentional effort to financially harm or destroy the SPLC as an organization, rather than simply punishing specific infractions. Conservatives have largely welcomed this prospect. National reviewDan McLaughlin of .
Why this anger towards the SPLC? In recent decades, mainstream conservatives have often criticized the SPLC for categorizing anti-LGBTQ organizations as “hate groups,” arguing that this label unfairly treated them as akin to the Klan. Kristen Wagoner, who heads the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement The Wall Street Journal in an editorial in 2025, after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, that the SPLC’s labeling of Talking Points USA and his own organization “encourages violence.” There is no evidence that the SPLC labeling had anything to do with Kirk’s murder.
