Alabama Opens SPLC Probe, Subpoenas Records by June After DOJ Fraud Charges

9 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 11

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall opened a state investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center on Monday and subpoenaed documents including donor records and payments to informants, with production due by June.
The probe will examine whether the Montgomery-based group violated Alabama's Deceptive Trade Practices Act or state charitable-organization laws, after the Justice Department charged SPLC in April with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Marshall said the federal case gave Alabama's effort "a shot in the arm" and cast the organization as long shielded from scrutiny.
SPLC said it had received the subpoena and was reviewing it. The civil-rights group, founded in 1971, has become a frequent Republican target over its labeling of conservative and Christian organizations.

Could the SPLC investigation change the rules for how all non-profit advocacy groups operate in America?

Did a famed civil rights watchdog cross the line by paying the very extremists it was fighting?