The Southern Poverty Law Center is under investigation by the Department of Justice, according to a video the group released on Tuesday.

In a video message posted to YouTube, interim President and CEO Bryan Fair blamed Republicans for targeting the law center in the past and labeling it as “partisan and profitable,” adding that the probe will focus on the organization’s use of confidential informants.

“Although we don’t know all the details, the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” he said.

“This use of informants was necessary because we are no stranger to threats of violence,” he continued. “In light of that work, we sought to protect the safety of our staff and the public. We frequently shared what we learned from informants with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI.”

Fair added, “We did not, however, share our use of informants broadly with anyone to protect the identity and safety of the informants and their families. And while we no longer work with paid informants, we continue to take their safety seriously.”

The case is being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama,accordingto sources with direct knowledge who spoke with CBS News.

Fair went on to say these informants worked to infiltrate what the non-profit deemed to be “radical and violent extremist groups,” and that the law center was forced to work with CIs due to violence that occurred 55 years ago during the civil rights movement.

He then accused the federal government of being “weaponized to dismantle the rights of our nation’s most vulnerable people,” and said there is a struggle between those who want “justice” and those who “resist progress.”

The Capital Research Center’s work regarding the SPLC tells a different story, however, one where the group uses a massive war chest that rivals large universities and hospitals, while exhibiting extreme political bias unfit for a non-profit entity.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center is perhaps most notorious for its ‘hate map,’ which not only neglects to track extremist groups on the left, but also lumps mainstream conservative and religious organizations right alongside some of the most reprehensible neo-Nazis and white supremacists in the country,” a CRCarticlefrom 2025 reads.

Source: VidNews » Feed