(Article by Cristina Laila republished from TheGatewayPundit.com)
The SPLC, a true hate group, targets conservative groups for ruin and puts them in danger with its ‘hit list’ by designating people and groups with its ‘hate group’ labels.
The Center for Immigration Studies accused the SPLC’s leaders of conspiring to violate RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] when they labeled them a hate group.
The SPLC asked Judge Jackson to hit the Center for Immigration studies with monetary sanctions, but she declined.
The Washington Times reported:
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that accused leaders of the Southern Poverty Law Center of trying to financially destroy one of the organizations that it has labeled as a hate group.
The Center for Immigration Studies’ lawsuit is devoid of any allegation that the law center made a false statement about the Washington-based nonprofit, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C., said in her ruling Friday.
“The upshot of the complaint is that defendants advanced a conclusion that was debatable, and that this expression of a flawed opinion harmed plaintiff’s reputation,” Jackson wrote.
The research group accused the Montgomery, Alabama-based law center’s leaders of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act when they designated it as a hate group in 2016. The judge, however, said the suit improperly attempts to “shoehorn” a defamation claim into the framework of a RICO case.
According to the Washington Times, Mark Krikorian, the Center for Immigration Studies’ executive director said in an email he hasn’t decided whether his group will appeal.
In a previous ruling, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the SPLC was protected under the First Amendment in their use of ‘hate group’ labels.
In June of 2018, the SPLC was forced to apologize and pay a $3.4 million settlement out of court to Quilliam, a London-based group, after labeling them as anti-Muslim extremists.
Read more at: TheGatewayPundit.com