COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that accused leaders of the Southern Poverty Law Center of trying to financially destroy one of the organizations that it has labeled as a hate group.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday that the Center for Immigration Studies' lawsuit is devoid of any allegation that the Alabama-based law center made a false statement about the Washington-based nonprofit.
Jackson said the suit improperly attempts to "shoehorn" a defamation claim into the framework of a case that accused the law center leaders of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
On its website, the law center describes the Center for Immigration Studies as the "go-to think tank for the anti-immigrant movement."