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Southern Poverty Law Center

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Clergy, criminal justice groups oppose Montgomery’s panhandling ordinance

Today the Montgomery City Council will take up an amendment to the panhandling ordinance that would criminalize passing anything between a car window: this is generally cash; but would also include a lunch or ice cream from a food truck. The original ordinance was passed in July. Members of the clergy, homeless advocates, and the … Continued
November 5, 2019

Civil Rights Memorial commemorates 30th Anniversary with special events

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Civil Rights Memorial with a special two-day event in November.  The Civil Rights Memorial, dedicated by the SPLC on Nov. 5, 1989, honors 40 people who were killed during the modern civil rights movement, a period framed by the 1954 Brown v. … Continued
October 29, 2019

Judge rules First Amendment protects SPLC’s “hate group” label

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center over the progressive watchdog group’s labeling of a Christian ministry as a hate group for its opposition to homosexuality.  In U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson’s order filed Thursday dismissing the suit, he wrote that while his decision didn’t make a determination … Continued
September 23, 2019

SPLC releases special report claiming that Alabama’s Community Corrections system is flawed

Thursday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a special report that claims that Alabama’s community corrections pay-to-play model prioritizes making money over rehabilitation or public safety. The report, titled “Opportunity Costs: Unequal Justice in Alabama’s Community Corrections Programs,” is the first in a series analyzing what the SPLC sees as serious flaws within Alabama’s … Continued
August 16, 2019

SPLC says resuming federal executions is a step in the wrong direction

Attorney General Bill Barr has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to clear the way for the federal government to resume capital punishment. The attorney general has further directed the acting director of the BOP, Hugh Hurwitz, to schedule the executions of five death-row inmates convicted of murdering children and the elderly. While the state … Continued
July 26, 2019

SPLC responds to Trump’s census press conference and executive action

On Thursday, the Southern Poverty Law Center welcomed President Donald Trump’s decision earlier that day to end his administration’s fight to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.  Trump did so at a press conference Thursday afternoon at the White House rose garden, putting an end to a 19-month battle that followed several legal … Continued
July 15, 2019

SPLC says proposed panhandling ordinance is unconstitutional

A proposed Montgomery city ordinance that allows for the arrest of panhandlers in the city came under fire from the Southern Poverty Law Center on Wednesday. “We urge the Mayor to veto the ordinance because it both unfairly punishes people who are living in poverty and violates the First Amendment,” the SPLC said in a … Continued
July 11, 2019

Merrill: SPLC criticism is an inaccurate representation of Alabama’s voter laws

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill responded Thursday to a recent op-ed published in the Montgomery Advertiser written by Nancy Abudu from the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center. “An article published Monday morning by Nancy Abudu presented readers with an inaccurate representation of Alabama’s voter laws and the ways in which the Alabama Secretary of … Continued
June 14, 2019

Southern Poverty Law Center announces new Voting Rights Team, criticizes state for discouraging voters

The Southern Poverty Law Center released a statement announcing their new Voting Rights Team and encouraging the state of Alabama to increase voter turnout by ending practices that discourage voters, like requiring voter identification and marking voters as inactive in the state’s voter rolls. The new Voting Rights Team will challenge laws and practices that … Continued
June 14, 2019

SPLC launches new Voting Rights Practice Group

The Southern Poverty Law Center announced on Tuesday the formation of a Voting Rights Practice Group focused on fighting voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement and partisan gerrymandering around the country, primarily in the Deep South. On Monday, the group took its first official action at a congressional field hearing in Birmingham titled, “Voting Rights and Election … Continued
May 16, 2019