Moms For Liberty Promises Legal Action Over SPLC ‘Hate And Extremism’ Report
The founders of Moms for Liberty, a parental rights group, plan to sue the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for defamation after it labeled the coalition an extremist group.
The Florida-based Moms for Liberty launched in 2021 after COVID restrictions paused typical schooling and moved education behind masks or online. The results for students caught in the pandemic were disastrous as mental health issues jumped and test scores slumped.
In 2022, the SPLC in its annual Year in Hate and Extremism report called Moms for Liberty an “extremist” coalition of “far-right antigovernment parents” known for “intimidating and harassing teachers and school officials.” It said Moms for Liberty is “one of the most recognized names in the anti-student inclusion movement” for the group’s opposition to explicit and Critical Race Theory materials being available and taught to students at school.
The designation is false and libelous, Justice told The Daily Wire. Descovich and Justice are in the early stages of planning a lawsuit against the SPLC for defamation.
“We’re not threatening to do it, we’re going to do it if we feel that we have an ability to do that,” Justice said. “Defamation is a hard claim in court, but it is certainly affecting our chapters and hurting our chapters all over the country, and intentionally so is the point. And it’s totally unfounded.”
The SPLC’s designation places Moms for Liberty alongside neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, as well as conservative Christian groups such as the Family Research Council, an example of critics’ observation that the SPLC often conflates mainstream conservatives and activists with racists and bigots.
“The designation is being used widely by the media. There are people, liberal activists, that are using it to try to hurt our chapters, to try to hurt our moms,” she continued. “The SPLC has put a target on the back of every American mom and dad. Shame on them.”