A Georgia-based organization fighting illegal immigration believes a North Alabama district judge shielded the Southern Poverty Law Center from investigation in a defamation case.
The Dustin Inman Society (DIS) was designated a hate group by the SPLC in February 2018. The Dustin Inman Society (DIS), founded by late conservative activist D.A. King, then sued the liberal organization for defamation.
In 2023, the Society's lawsuit was initially allowed to proceed after a federal judge's ruling, but was later blocked by Judge Corey L. Maze of the Northern District of Alabama. According to a report from The Daily Signal, lawyers hired by the Society claimed Maze "violated precedent" when he denied the Society’s request for documents "related to SPLC’s internal policies for designating hate groups." Additionally, the conservative group was not given access to SPLC’s communications about DIS and materials "concerning SPLC’s methodology as applied to other groups in the immigration context."
Following the ruling, DIS is now seeking a higher court's review to overturn Maze's decision, alleging that the judge is intentionally protecting the SPLC by denying access to the requested items.
"The case was decided by stacking four errors," said Harry Mihet, chief litigation counsel for Liberty Counsel and DIS attorneys. "Cutting off discovery, ignoring what the SPLC already knew, twisting the legal standard, and stretching the single-publication rule, until the plaintiffs had no case left. And so the case was decided, not because there is no evidence available, but because the court did not allow any evidence to be gathered to show that the SPLC acted with actual malice."
Added Mihet, "The case is really about a simple principle: you can’t block discovery, and then win because there’s no evidence."
The Dustin Inman Society was originally established as the American Resistance Foundation in 2003, but was later renamed after an illegal alien killed its namesake. The group is organized as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization.
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