Since U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., won the Oct. 25 election for House speaker, the public has gotten a crash course on the previously low-profile congressman. As details of his political life emerged, a social media influencer claimed in a viral video that he has been affiliated with a hate group.
Johnson previously worked for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm that played a pivotal role in the case that led the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down protected federal access to abortion.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks and labels hate groups, named the alliance a hate group in 2016, the same year Johnson won election to Congress.
"The man who was just elected speaker of the House used to be the spokesperson for a designated hate group," said Emily Amick in an Oct. 25 video on her Instagram account "Emily In Your Phone," which offers political commentary and analysis. Amick also heads up For Facts Sake, which says it "builds social media campaigns to drive social change."
The law center and the alliance have sparred for years about the hate group designation.
The law center’s "hate map" has drawn controversy before, with critics saying the label conflates groups that preach hatred, such as the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, with ones that do not share the law center’s political preferences. For example, the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports lower immigration levels, disputes its place...
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