On June 9, interim president and CEO Bryan Fair of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was called to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. The purpose of the hearing was to learn more about SPLC’s “funding, advocacy work and influence on public institutions.”
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The organization was formed in 1971 as a nonprofit legal advocacy group, focusing on civil rights and public interest litigation. It began providing, for public access, numerous organizations SPLC considered to be “hate” groups. Like the lyrics from the 1956 ballad written for the television program Robin Hood, SPLC also was “feared by the bad, loved by the good.” It became a champion for the racially oppressed, targeting and, largely due to its early efforts, bankrupting one of the largest and most violent Ku Klux Klan (KKK) factions—the United Klans of America—in 1990.
But, unlike Robin Hood who stayed the course to remain loved by the good, at some point in time SPLC crossed over to the dark side. Unbelievably, the crossover even involved the alleged funding of a KKK group and other hate organizations appearing on its list.
As a result of the above, in April 2026, a grand jury indicted SPLC on eleven charges including wire fraud, false statements, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Millions of dollars were allegedly funneled to the same extremist groups SPLC sought funding to challenge.
Of interest as well to committee members who questioned Fair at the hearing was SPLC’s methodology for identifying those groups on its hate list. In 2025, its list tallied 1,263 names. But what is most telling is what groups failed to appear on the list.
The SPLC list includes 96 names for having an anti-LGBTQ ideology—some of which are Christian groups. However, despite the fact Muslims condemn homosexuality, not a single Islamic group appears on the list. Asked about this by the committee, Fair ridiculously responded SPLC does not “target any group because of its religion.” As Act for America’s Brigette Gabrielle has said about SPLC, it “smears Christians daily but shields radical Islam.”
Interestingly, one of the first groups to jump to SPLC’s defense after the indictment was filed was Islamic. CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations)—which claims to be the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group (and apparently lacking any hateful genes in its body)—declared solidarity with SPLC. It condemned the prosecution as a “transparently political attack on the rule of law.” This is the same CAIR that in 2025 was declared a “terrorist organization” both in Florida and Texas and, contrary to the rule of law, also supports implementation of Islamic law.
Another name missing from SPLC’s list is the domestic terrorist group Antifa. Fair dismisses this, not as an oversight, but justified as Antifa is nothing more than an ideology rather than an organization.
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We have heard the ideology defense before from leftists, but it is complete ignorance to do so. On March 13, 2026, nine Antifa members were convicted by a federal jury in Texas for rioting, utilization of weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction, and attempted murder of a police offier—criminal activities occurring at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center on July 4, 2025. It is not an ideology that is now serving time in a Texas prison.
Additionally, Antifa has been designated as a “domestic terrorist organization” by President Donald Trump as of September 2025. Yet this prompted no action by SPLC to appropriately label it as a hate group, apparently believing terrorists harbor no hatred.
Inexcusable too is that, while SPLC takes the position no Islamic group qualifies for its list, Charlie Kirk’s organization (Turning Point USA), as well as PragerU, the world’s largest conservative nonprofit organization, both find themselves on it.
As Fair was pressed during his testimony, he inadvertently admitted SPLC meets its own hate standard. The acknowledgement came with the declaration, “We list groups that demonize or vilify people based on immutable characteristics or that express anti-government conspiracy theories.”
Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Oh) queried Fair as to what caused SPLC to discontinue its “Informant” Program—in which extremists were paid by the group—and was one of the key reasons it is now being investigated by Congress. Jordan asked, “You said the program was successful, helpful, but now you’re stopping it.” To this Fair answered, “We stopped the program because we believe hate and extremism has migrated significantly online and into government agencies.” His response left Jordan chuckling and to comment, “That makes no sense.”
Yet, this is the same theme of SPLC’s recent annual report entitled, “Year in Hate and Extremism.” As the report was actually published during the hearing, Fair undoubtedly thought to himself, “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
Sociopath traits include manipulation, impulsiveness and a lack of empathy. Listening to Fair’s testimony concerning SPLC’s motivations, one wonders if a nonprofit organization is capable of being sociopathic as well.
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