Biden FBI Cited SPLC in Taking Thousands of Actions Despite Knowing Org’s Deep Flaws
2nd September 2026
The Justice Department’s new report on the Richmond Catholic memo reveals that the FBI had cited the Southern Poverty Law Center more than 22,000 times, at times without any caveats, even though FBI policies would require any SPLC citation to note potential bias and contested credibility.
The Richmond office of the FBI published the notorious memo on Jan. 23, 2023, claiming that “racially-motivated violent extremists” were seeking to recruit “radical traditional Catholics.” The memo didn’t just cite the SPLC, it did so without any caveats about the SPLC’s questionable credibility.
The SPLC has explicitly stated that it “did not provide any information or communicate with any FBI personnel involved in preparing this Richmond Field Office memo.” Yet newly released documents reveal the FBI citing the SPLC without caveats, at a time when the SPLC maintained close ties to the Biden Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
The FBI publicly retracted the Richmond Catholic memo one day after it leaked, and a newly disclosed Feb. 21, 2023, Analytic Tradecraft Review explains why.
Among other things, the tradecraft review faults the memo for failing to “provide any details regarding any potential bias/credibility of the sources, including concerning SPLC.”