The Southern Poverty Law Center has a long history of labeling conservative entities as “extremist groups.”
When the organization decided to place the coalition Moms For Liberty on its so-called “hate map,” however, some critics began to wonder if the executive branch played a role in the move. After all, President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has already attracted backlash for a memo asserting that parents concerned about the direction of public schools could be considered domestic extremists.
As U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and other Florida Republicans recently reported, a White House meeting offers additional evidence of collusion with the SPLC. Moms for Liberty is based in the Sunshine State.
"We are not anti-government. We are anti-woke indoctrination," @TinaDescovich declared. "The Southern Poverty Law Center is using their power and their name to destroy their political enemies." That's the SPLC's M.O. I would know—I wrote the book. https://t.co/fa3FIU94hK
— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) June 27, 2023
The group of GOP officials, which also included Sen. Rick Scott and eight members of the state House, pointed to a meeting between SPLC Intelligence Project Director Susan Corke and National Security Council Counterterrorism Director John Picarelli.
In a letter addressing the matter, the Florida Republicans wrote: “This meeting raises serious questions as to whether the White House encouraged SPLC to work on behalf of the administration to label parental rights groups and organizations as ‘extremist groups.’”
Following that meeting, Moms for Liberty and other parental rights groups were included in the SPLC’s “2022: The Year in Hate” report.
The Republican letter denounced this “bad-faith designation” while noting that it “should come as no surprise, as SPLC is a corrupt and vicious tool of progressive radicals seeking to label individuals and groups with whom they disagree as hateful and/or extremist.”
Heritage Foundation senior counsel Mike Gonzalez also raised similar concerns, noting that Picarelli appeared alongside SPLC officials at an event called the Eradicate Hate Global Summit just days before the “Year in Hate” report was published.
Two days after the SPLC report, the White House issued its own document aimed at combating the supposed threat that “LGBTQI+ communities” face from domestic extremists.
“Just excellent timing?” Gonzalez asked. “Anything is possible, but Congress ought to investigate if there indeed was a collaboration between the corrupt SPLC and the White House. Such coordination would not be new.”
In their letter, the Florida Republicans asked the White House to provide additional details about the meeting between Picarelli and Corke.
