The Alabama attorney general’s office announced on Monday that it was opening its own investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center, less than a month after the Justice Department charged the organization with several financial crimes.
The law center, which is based in Montgomery, Ala., has drawn the ire of conservatives in recent years for targeting groups that many of them consider mainstream. That conflict came to a head in April, when the Justice Department charged the organization with crimes that included wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In a statement, the Alabama attorney general’s office applauded the Justice Department’s actions and said that it was separately investigating the law center to determine whether “the S.P.L.C.’s activity within the state also ran afoul of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act or state laws related to charitable organizations.”
“Thanks to the U.S. Justice Department’s action to deal with the S.P.L.C., the state’s efforts have now received a shot in the arm,” the attorney general, Steve Marshall, said in the statement. “We look forward to learning more about the inner workings of an organization that we have long believed was rotten, but until recently, has been impervious.”
Mr. Marshall, a Republican, subpoenaed the law center on Monday. He requested a broad range of documents to be provided by June, including records of S.P.L.C. donors and disbursements to informants, which the organization has used to infiltrate far-right groups.
A spokeswoman from the S.P.L.C. said the group had received notice of the subpoena and was reviewing it. She declined to comment further.
The S.P.L.C. was founded in 1971, eventually earning its reputation as a civil rights organization when it battled the Ku Klux Klan in court. It developed a network of informants who infiltrated far-right groups and helped reporters and law enforcement keep tabs on extremists.
Lately, the law center has become a target for Republicans because of its criticism of a number of conservative and Christian organizations, including Moms for Liberty, the Family Research Council and Turning Point USA.
The S.P.L.C. has also been adversarial toward President Trump, and the accusations come as the administration has made a broader push to counter what it calls anti-Christian and anti-conservative bias.
Christina Morales is a national reporter for The Times.
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