The Nonprofit That Inspired a Shooting Now Faces Federal Charges. The Victim Wants Justice.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Alabama-based nonprofit that has for decades compiled and published lists designating organizations as hate groups, now faces a federal indictment. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, whose organization was targeted in a 2012 shooting that federal prosecutors later said was motivated by the SPLC's published materials, is demanding restitution from the Department of Justice.

Perkins confirmed the restitution demand publicly on June 16, citing the federal indictment of the SPLC as the moment of reckoning his organization has sought since the August 15, 2012 attack on FRC's Washington, D.C., headquarters.

BACKGROUND: THE 2012 SHOOTING

On August 15, 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins II entered the lobby of the Family Research Council's headquarters in Washington and opened fire, wounding building manager Leo Johnson in the arm. Johnson disarmed Corkins before he could reach other employees. Corkins had approximately 100 rounds of ammunition and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, which he later told investigators he intended to smear on the faces of his victims.

In his February 2013 guilty plea, Corkins told the FBI that he had selected the Family Research Council as his target after finding it on the SPLC's website, which listed FRC as a hate group. "I found them online, did a little research, went to the Southern Poverty Law Center website," Corkins said in court-filed statements. "That listed anti-gay groups."

He was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. Federal prosecutors at the time described the attack as an act of domestic terrorism motivated by Corkins's desire to kill employees because of their organization's policy positions.

THE SPLC INDICTMENT

Details of the federal charges against the SPLC were not fully disclosed in public filings as of publication, and the SPLC's attorneys have characterized the prosecution as "vindictive." In a brief filed on Friday, federal prosecutors rejected that characterization, arguing plainly that "this Court need not concern itself with parsing the defendant's allegations," according to The Federalist.

The SPLC did not respond to a request for comment. The Department of Justice declined to provide additional details on the scope of the indictment beyond what is contained in public court filings.

PERKINS'S DEMAND

Perkins, who has led the Family Research Council since 2003, said the DOJ indictment creates a legal basis for FRC to seek financial restitution under federal crime victim statutes.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center inspired an act of terrorism against my organization," Perkins said in public remarks. "There is now a federal indictment. We intend to pursue every legal avenue available to hold them accountable."

Under federal law, crime victims may petition courts for restitution in connection with criminal proceedings if their losses can be causally linked to the conduct at issue. Whether FRC's losses from the 2012 attack can be tied to the current federal indictment — which addresses conduct distinct from the 2012 shooting — will be a central legal question in any restitution proceeding.

WHAT COMES NEXT

The federal case against the SPLC remains in early stages. No trial date has been set. The SPLC's legal team is expected to file additional motions challenging the government's charging decisions.

Perkins and the Family Research Council have consistently argued since 2012 that the SPLC's practice of labeling mainstream conservative and Christian organizations as hate groups contributed to the conditions that led to the shooting. That argument has been contested by the SPLC and its supporters, who maintain the organization's designations are based on documented policy positions, not incitement.

The indictment does not resolve that dispute. It does, however, give the question a new legal arena.