The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a pro-enforcement group, has an interesting and heavily documented case to make about the Southern Poverty Law Center.
According to a formal legal complaint filed today with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) openly and repeatedly violated its non-profit tax status nearly 50 times during the 2016 presidential election cycle, participating in communication activities prohibited by the IRS in a "flagrant, continued and intentional campaign" targeting then-Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and other Republican candidates. The complaint was filed by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) through its legal affiliate the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI).
The FAIR complaint zooms in on some specific SPLC behavior.
"The SPLC went way over the line in this last election. It publicly engaged in deep, deliberate, and unlawful participation during the 2016 presidential election cycle, flagrantly violating its non-profit tax status," alleges FAIR President Dan Stein. "The IRS should investigate all of these instances, and take appropriate steps to either sanction and fine the SPLC, or remove its tax-exempt status as a public charity. We are alleging – via meticulously-detailed documented evidence – that it repeatedly engaged in widespread, illegal electioneering in 2015 and 2016," he said.
On July 6, 2016, the SPLC Intelligence Report featured a lengthy thirteen-page "report" by SPLC staff member Stephen Piggott, titled, "Hate in the Race," and subtitled, "A remarkable level of vitriol has characterized the Republican contest for president." The article contained at least 41 distinct unlawful and highly negative statements attacking then-Republican Party candidate and nominee Donald Trump or his campaign staff and supporters, and fourteen similar distinct unlawful statements attacking former Republican Party candidate Ted Cruz.
On October 2, 2015, the SPLC Hatewatch project published "How the Candidates, the Haters, and the Media Have Cooked Up a Perfect Storm of Islamophobia," by SPLC contract writer David Neiwert. The article mainly focused on Trump's comments and positions. According to the article, Trump has "demonstrated how the fires of bigotry . . . keep escalating."
Beyond the IRS complaint, these examples show the continuing drift of the SPLC from its supposed original mission to its transformation into a generic left-wing organization.