Even Amid Lawsuit, Democrat AG Won’t Swear Off Using Far-Left ‘Hate Map’ That Allegedly Inspired Terrorist Attack
24th March 2026
Michigan’s Democrat attorney general cited the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate map” when announcing a “hate-crimes unit” in 2019, and after one of the conservative groups on the map sued, the AG’s office won’t say whether it will refuse to cite the SPLC in the future.
The American Freedom Law Center, a Judeo-Christian public interest law firm that the SPLC calls an “anti-Muslim hate group” because it warns against radical Islam, sued Michigan AG Dana Nessel and Agustin Arbulu, then-director of the state’s Department of Civil Rights. Nessel and Arbulu had issued a press release in February 2019, citing the SPLC map. Nessel said she was “establishing a hate-crimes unit” in order “to fight against hate crimes and the many hate groups which have been allowed to proliferate in our state.”
After a lengthy court delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a district court granted Nessel’s motion for summary judgment, ruling against the American Freedom Law Center in August. The court ruled that the center lacked standing to bring the suit because it could not demonstrate concrete harm from the government, citing the SPLC accusation. AFLC appealed, and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case on Thursday.