The Southern Poverty Law Center's appeal in Beck v. Alabama led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring the "kill 'em or let 'em go" provision unconstitutional—a ruling that brought Gilbert Beck a new trial and paved the way for new trials for many of the 43 people on Alabama's death row at the time.
A settlement agreement has been approved in a lawsuit filed by the SPLC on behalf of migrant farmworkers who said they were not paid the wages they were owed by subsidiaries of Del Monte Fresh Produce Inc.
The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) has honored the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance magazine as the 2009 Periodical of the Year in its Distinguished Achievement Award adult category.