US congressional panel asks Southern Poverty Law Center boss to testify

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, April ‌28 (Reuters) - The ​chairman ​of the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Tuesday asked the Southern Poverty Law Center's ‌boss to testify before the panel in May after ⁠the civil rights group was indicted last week.

Here are some details:

• President ‌Donald Trump's administration obtained a ‌criminal indictment last week charging SPLC with defrauding its own donors by using paid informants to infiltrate far-right organizations.

• SPLC ​is a civil rights group that tracks political extremists. It condemned last week's charges as "false allegations."

• "We respectfully request your ⁠testimony at a hearing of the Committee on the Judiciary on May 20, 2026," ​U.S. Representative Jim Jordan from Trump's Republican Party said in a letter to Bryan Fair, SPLC's ​interim president and CEO.

• Many rights ‌advocates have raised alarm over what they call the Trump administration's crackdown on civil rights groups ⁠and voices of dissent.

• The 55-year-old law center had long shared information it collected with the FBI and other law enforcement groups before ⁠the Trump administration cut ties with the SPLC six months ago.

• The ​congressional hearing will examine the role that SPLC "has played in distorting federal civil rights policy in recent years," Jordan said in his letter on ‌Tuesday.

• Jordan claimed SPLC's reports on hate in the U.S. included a "highly partisan understanding of 'hate'" against ‌conservatives.

• SPLC says its program of paid informants has "saved lives" ⁠and was not a secret ‌to the federal government.

• ​The FBI also uses paid informants in its investigations.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Kate ‌Mayberry)

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