The SPLC DOJ case will move forward after a federal judge rejected the Montgomery-based nonprofit’s attempt to dismiss an 11-count federal indictment as a “vindictive prosecution.”

U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks on Friday denied the Southern Poverty Law Center’s motion to dismiss the charges and a related request to conduct discovery into the Justice Department’s motives for bringing the case.

The SPLC had argued that the prosecution was politically motivated retaliation by the Trump administration for the organization’s speech and advocacy.

Marks found the organization had not presented sufficient evidence connecting alleged hostility from administration officials to the federal prosecutors who made the decision to bring the charges.

“The SPLC has failed to offer some evidence tending to show animus on the part of the prosecutors involved in bringing this case and that such animus resulted in the prosecution,” Marks wrote.

The ruling does not determine whether the SPLC is guilty of the underlying charges.

A federal grand jury in Montgomery initially indicted the organization in April on six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. Prosecutors later obtained a superseding indictment alleging the SPLC secretly directed approximately $4.1 million in donor funds to informants associated with the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist organizations.

The SPLC has pleaded not guilty and denied defrauding donors, arguing that its former informant program was used to monitor extremist organizations and prevent violence.

“While the Southern Poverty Law Center is disappointed with the outcome of the motion, we will continue to vigorously defend ourselves, our staff and our work,” the organization said following Marks’ ruling.

Sawyer Knowles is a state and political reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].