How the SPLC, once a defender of civil rights, became a liberal attack dog

This week’s indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center on federal fraud charges for allegedly abusing donor dollars to foment “hate” on the Right has left observers wondering how the SPLC, once a legitimate civil rights advocacy organization, morphed into a left-wing attack machine.

In its early days, the SPLC worked to ensure women had equal employment opportunities, secured better labor conditions for cotton mill workers, and successfully challenged segregationist policies, at times taking the fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

But following the defeat of lingering Jim Crow-era legal barriers, which it had helped dismantle, the SPLC started straying from its original mission of uplifting the marginalized in search of opponents to fill a growing demand shortage.

Until then, the SPLC mainly made money off of its donor base’s disdain toward the Ku Klux Klan. Eventually, the KKK declined in membership, leading the SPLC to look elsewhere for political