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SPLC founder Morris Dees on why the Voting Rights Act still matters

By Morris Dees, Founder, Chief Trial Attorney
03/25/2013

Forty-eight years ago, SPLC founder Morris Dees stood at the Alabama Capitol at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march and heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak on the importance of the vote in democracy. In his view, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — the section that contains extra voting rights protections that apply mainly to the South — is still necessary.

Supreme Court Decision Major Blow to Anti-Immigrant Laws

By Mary Bauer, Legal Director
06/25/2012

Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a blow to Arizona’s anti-immigrant law and similar copycat laws that have sprung up in other states. The court’s decision affirms that much about these laws is unconstitutional because many of their provisions are preempted by federal law. The decision also shows the court has significant concerns about the one provision they allowed to stand.

Creating a Level Playing Field for Guest Workers

By Dana Vickers Shelley
05/21/2013
Several plans to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, including Senate Bill 744, contain important protections for U.S. and foreign workers that must be preserved as the legislation moves through Congress. But they lack critical protections to prevent foreign workers from enduring the kind of exploitation prevalent in the current H-2 guest worker program.
Mighty Times The Children's March

Motion Picture Association of America screens Teaching Tolerance film on 50th anniversary of children’s marches

05/02/2013

Fifty years after young people braved fire hoses and police dogs to end segregation in Birmingham, Ala., their courageous acts were commemorated in the nation’s capital last night as congressional staffers, SPLC members, civil rights advocates and journalists gathered for a screening of Teaching Tolerance’s Academy Award-winning documentary Mighty Times: The Children’s March.

‘Jena Six’ teen now an SPLC community advocate

By Jamie Kizzire
12/17/2012

Theo Shaw remembers searching through a law book for answers while sitting in a jail cell. It was 2006. Shaw and Robert Bailey Jr. were two teenagers desperate to find something in the law that could help them get out of jail. “We were looking for hope,” Shaw said. “We were looking to file anything we needed to file to get out.”

Report: ‘culture of suppression and harm’ at Mississippi juvenile facility

By Jamie Kizzire
10/29/2012

Despite a settlement agreement to end the abusive conditions at Mississippi’s largest juvenile detention facility, a court monitor's report shows that officials at the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center have failed to meet even one of the agreement’s 71 provisions.

SPLC argues in federal court today, seeking millions in lost wages for farmworkers

By Naomi Tsu
10/23/2012

The Southern Poverty Law Center is going to court today to help domestic farmworkers and foreign guestworkers recover millions of dollars in wages they were never paid after performing backbreaking work.

Teaching Tolerance director discusses National Mix It Up at Lunch Day on CNN, addresses American Family Association attack

10/23/2012
Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello appeared yesterday on CNN to discuss National Mix It Up at Lunch Day and to address the American Family Association’s (AFA) bizarre attack on the anti-bias program.

SPLC Task Force on Hate in the Public Sphere publishes profiles of candidates with extremist views

10/22/2012
Profiled here are 15 political candidates who are linked to hate groups or who promote extremist propaganda.

George McGovern: A man of principle and compassion

By Morris Dees, Founder, Chief Trial Attorney
10/22/2012

It's a sad occasion for our country. My great friend George McGovern died yesterday at the age of 90. Senator McGovern was a true American hero.