Southern Poverty Law Center labels DOJ indictment vindictive prosecution in dismissal bid

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is asking a judge to toss a case the Trump administration launched against the civil rights group, arguing it has been selectively and vindictively prosecuted.

The Tuesday filing calls the charges against the group the “latest manifestation of a top-down, retributive campaign,” listing a number of comments from President Trump about the group and unusual actions taken by prosecutors before launching the case.

“To carry out the President’s directive, others in the Administration targeted the SPLC, which now faces criminal charges for exercising its First Amendment right to identify, report on, and criticize extremist hate groups,” the center wrote in the filing.

“The Administration has falsely accused the SPLC of being ‘anti-Christian,’ of aiding the Biden Administration’s ‘weaponization’ of the Department of Justice, of participating in political violence, and, most recently, of helping to ‘rig’ the 2020 election against President Donald Trump,” the group added,........

© The Hill