WASHINGTON—Lawmakers at a Dec. 16 subcommittee hearing debated the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hate Map” and other research it has produced.

While Democrats defended the group’s civil rights record and its right to free speech, Republicans on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government questioned connections the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has drawn between conservative groups and extremism.

The debate over the SPLC has intensified since the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

The organization, known decades ago for its litigation against the Ku Klux Klan, profiled Turning Point USA in a 2024 Hate & Extremism Report. The report was released in May, several months before Kirk was shot and killed in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10.

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) noted that the SPLC’s Sept. 9 “Hatewatch” publication—issued one day before Kirk’s assassination—mentioned both Kirk and Turning Point USA. That document characterized the organization’s work as “hard right.”

Lawmakers heard testimony from Turning Point USA’s Andrew Sypher as well as Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC).

In 2012, Floyd Corkins II attacked the FRC’s Washington headquarters, shooting and wounding a security guard. When the FBI interrogated Corkins, he said he identified the conservative, Christian organization as a target through online resources from the SPLC, which publishes a widely circulated “Hate Map.”

Under the Biden administration, the FBI’s Richmond Office issued a memo warning of links between “radical-Traditionalist Catholic” beliefs and violent extremism. The memo, which was later withdrawn, cited the SPLC.

In October 2025, less than a month after Kirk was killed, FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was ending its relationship with the organization.

During the hearing, Roy said: “[We are] not suggesting that we shouldn’t have groups that are able to exercise all of their First Amendment rights and speak clearly and freely.”

“We are saying that we ought to, as an oversight body, be looking into the connections and the networks and how they are extended into the decision-making of the federal government, and how they are being used to target average and everyday Americans,” he said.

The subcommittee’s ranking member, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Penn.), defended the SPLC, saying it was one of many civil rights organizations “that seek to ensure that all Americans are given a seat at the table, regardless of race or gender or background.”

“Throughout its history, the SPLC has done important work to identify hate groups and extremist threats,” Scanlon said.

Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.) said that a “Hate Map” produced by the organization “increasingly functions as a political weapon” aimed at conservatives.

The ranking member of the full Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), raised concerns about criticism of that map on free speech grounds.

“Maps are protected by the First Amendment. ... If you don’t like somebody else’s map, you make your own map,” he said.

Perkins, of the Family Research Council, said the issue he sought to address was “not a map.”

“It’s who uses the map,” he said, citing the federal government’s past reliance on the SPLC and its analyses.

The SPLC did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of Turning Point USA’s Andrew Sypher. The Epoch Times regrets the error.