How can a leftist group present itself as the authority on “hate groups” in public, touting the fact that police and even the FBI have relied on its materials, and then reverse course when challenged in court, claiming that its statements are unprovable “opinion” rather than expert statements of fact?

Has the Southern Poverty Law Center no shame? To ask the question is to answer it.

As I wrote in my book “Making Hate Pay,” the SPLC has long engaged in ritual character assassination, putting mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits on a “hate map” with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, claiming that the map exposes the “infrastructure upholding white supremacy.” It persisted in doing this after the “hate map” inspired a terrorist attack in 2012 and after a former employee called the “hate” accusations a “highly profitable scam.”

The SPLC uses the “hate map” as a sword, eviscerating the reputations of its political and ideological opponents. When these targeted conservatives seek redress in court, the SPLC erects an extremely disingenuous shield, claiming that the “hate group” accusation is a mere matter of opinion, not liable for defamation because it doesn’t involve any specific “facts.”

A well-crafted lawsuit has cut right to the heart of this slimy argument, however, and the SPLC is desperately twisting itself in knots to avoid facing a jury........

© The Daily Signal