A lawsuit accusing leaders of the controversial Southern Poverty Law Center was thrown out by US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Friday. The lawsuit accused the leaders to be trying to destroy the financial standing of an organization it had labeled as a hate group.
The Center for Immigration Studies’ lawsuit was called to be devoid of any allegation that any false statement was made by the law center about the Washington-based nonprofit.
Jackson wrote in her ruling that the complaint’s upshot was that the plaintiff’s reputation was harmed as a result of debatable advanced conclusion expressed by the defendants.
The leaders of the Montgomery, Alabama-based law center were accused by the research group to have conspired to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in 2016 when they designated the non-profit as a hate group.
However, the judge upheld that the lawsuit erroneously attempted to “shoehorn” the framework of a RICO case upon the defamation claim.
Monetary sanctions were asked to be imposed by the law center’s attorneys against the non-profit for filing frivolous claims that were designed to stop constitutionally protected speech.
However, Jackson refused to impose any such sanctions concluding the lawsuit to not be completely frivolous as claimed.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, according to many people, does not support American values and has supported policies that have historically hurt communities – such as those in South Chicago, west Baltimore, LA, Cleveland, and so on.
