An evangelical Christian ministry is asking the Supreme Court to take up its 4-year-old defamation lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center, arguing that the “actual malice” standard established in the court’s landmark New York Times v. Sullivan case should be tossed.
Two US Supreme Court have stated that a defamation lawsuit by D. James Kennedy Ministries (DJKM) against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) offers the Court an opportunity to review its controversial landmark defamation ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), Fox News reports. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch are calling for the Supreme Court to hear the case specifically in order to revisit the high standard of “actual malice” that was set in 1964, and which they say has rendered it excessively difficult for plaintiffs to prove libel.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) issued a resolution Monday stating that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) legal advocacy group has no legitimacy to provide information to government agencies about organizations it identifies as ‘hate groups,’ the Epoch Times reports. The resolution describes the SPLC as “a far-left organization with an obvious bias.”
House Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee said on Thursday that over 60 alleged hate groups, mostly socially conservative organizations, anti-immigration entities, and religious groups should be stripped of their tax-exempt status.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Monday called on the Department of Justice to immediately halt federal funding to the Nation of Islam, after the Washington Examiner first reported that the group has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government to teach religious studies programs to prison inmates.
The Nation of Islam and its leaders have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the U.S. government since 2008 to teach religious study programs for federal prison inmates, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
As many as 60 Christian or conservative organizations attacked as ‘hate groups’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center are considering legal action against the Left-wing group.
Evangelist Franklin Graham is speaking out against the Southern Poverty Law Center for labeling several Christian groups, like D. James Kennedy Ministries and the Family Research Council, ‘hate groups.’