Justice Department investigates SPLC informant program, group vows no intimidation

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center over a now-defunct program that used paid confidential informants to infiltrate white supremacist and other extremist groups, a probe the civil rights organization says could expose it and some individuals to criminal charges.

Bryan Fair, the SPLC’s interim chief executive, said the case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama. He said the organization does not know all of the details, but believes the inquiry centers on its past use of paid informants to gather intelligence on violent groups. Fair said the SPLC “will not be intimidated” and that it no longer uses paid informants.

The investigation reaches beyond one organization because it goes to a central question facing watchdog groups, protest movements and federal overseers alike: how far can an organization go in monitoring extremist activity before its methods draw scrutiny of their own. Groups that track hate networks often work in environments shaped by threats, secrecy and violence, but the use of paid informants can raise civil-liberties concerns when private monitoring begins to resemble covert law-enforcement work.

Fair said the SPLC used informants for years because it faced threats of violence, including the 1983 firebombing of its offices in Montgomery, Alabama. He said information gathered by those informants was frequently shared with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI. The SPLC said the program has since been discontinued.

Founded in 1971 and based in Montgomery, the SPLC built its reputation through lawsuits against the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups. It now says its mission includes tracking white supremacist, anti-government and other extremist activity across the United States. Its 2024 hate-map report documented 1,371 hate and antigovernment extremist groups nationwide, including 118 white nationalist groups and 5,665 white supremacist flyering incidents.

Fair framed the investigation as politically motivated and linked it to a broader campaign by the Trump administration against organizations it opposes. ABC News reported that Fair said the group has spent 55 years fighting white supremacy and injustice. Fair also said, “We will not be intimidated into silence or contrition, and we will not abandon our mission or the communities we serve.”

Justice Department officials did not immediately comment. The case now places a longstanding civil-rights watchdog in the crosshairs of a federal inquiry that could shape how far private organizations may go when they try to penetrate extremist movements and protect the communities targeted by them.