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Rep. Jim Jordan dropped a bombshell at a House Judiciary hearing this week: the Justice Department under President Biden opened an investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center and then quietly shut it down. Jordan says the reason was simple — the SPLC had become so intertwined with DOJ operations that prosecuting it would have meant prosecuting the department’s own allies. That claim, if true, is a scandal about favoritism, not justice.
What Jim Jordan revealed
Jordan told the committee that the Justice Department once investigated the SPLC but “dropped the case.” He argued the group had trained and advised DOJ staff and prosecutors, essentially becoming part of the agency’s internal playbook. Jordan pointed to a Richmond FBI memo that used the SPLC to justify labeling pro-life Catholics as potential extremists. He called it a sign of a weaponized Justice Department that used outside groups to target political opponents.
The evidence, the money, and the indictment
The hearing leaned on some ugly facts. Jordan highlighted a Virginia FBI memorandum that cited the SPLC as a source when flagging conservative Catholics. He also noted that the SPLC’s fundraising surged after Charlottesville, and that the group now sits on huge assets and an enormous endowment. And this isn’t just talk: a federal grand jury in Montgomery recently indicted the SPLC on charges including wire fraud, false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to launder money. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel have publicly accused the group of deceiving donors and “manufacturing racism” to stay relevant.
That sequence matters. If the Biden-era Justice Department did in fact drop an active probe into the SPLC because it relied on the group for training and intelligence, that would be evidence of political protection. Prosecutors should not be in the business of shielding their preferred political allies. The public expects equal justice under the law, not favoritism for well-funded advocacy groups that help those in power.
Now that the case has been revived and federal charges are moving forward under the current Justice Department, Republicans should press for real answers. Who made the call to kill the previous probe? What internal meetings and policies put an advocacy group inside DOJ’s decision-making loop? The SPLC indictment raises hard questions about impartiality, donor deception, and whether law enforcement got too cozy with one side of the political aisle. Accountability matters — and it should not depend on which party controls the White House.
