Sixth Circuit rejects religious law firm’s suit over hate group label

The court said the firm has produced little evidence in seven years to back its claims that a single press release caused any economic or reputational damage.(CN) — A unanimous Sixth Circuit panel tossed out an appeal by a religious law firm Friday, ruling it failed to show concrete harm from a Michigan press release linking a site identifying the firm as a hate group.Writing for the court, U.S. Circuit Judge Chad Readler said the American Freedom Law Center — a self-proclaimed Judeo-Christian public interest law firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan — comes up short across the board in its challenge.“Even had American Freedom demonstrated that defendants caused it reputational harm when the press release first came out, that alone would not get the law firm across the standing finish line,” the Donald Trump appointee said in the ruling. “The law firm also must show that this injury will exist in the future. American Freedom runs into trouble on that front too.”Readler noted that public officials calling out potential issues, even in an “unfriendly light,” is a standard part of American government — opposing American Freedom’s belief that Michigan officials took that responsibility too far.“In a representative democracy, the public expects its officials to highlight perceived problems and offer preferred solutions,” Readler said in the ruling. “For better or worse, that is a natural product of our democratic system, where representatives are chosen from competing candidates with competing ideals. It is hard to envision American political life working any other way.”The firm’s 2019 lawsuit came after the Michigan Department of Civil Rights issued a press release referencing information from the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hate Map,” which is used to track hate groups.The state’s release did not mention American Freedom by name, though the linked site identified the firm as an “anti-Muslim” group, and the firm claimed its donors feared the hate crimes unit would investigate the center and expose their identities as a result.Dismissing claims of economic harm, the court noted the firm provided no evidence of any donor-related trouble in the seven years after the press release was issued — and that fears of donors pulling funding were pure speculation.American Freedom also claimed Michigan’s partnership with the SPLC targets certain groups based on political viewpoints alone and ostracizes them as hate organizations in clear violation of the First Amendment, though the court again said little evidence backed this claim.Michigan officials have routinely stated they would rely on far more than just the SPLC list to investigate and prosecute hate groups, with the state’s own attorney general testifying before the state Senate that she “at no point indicated she would be working together with the SPLC.”Furthermore, state officials argued in March the law center failed to prove a single concrete injury stemming from the “Hate Map” designation — noting it faced no investigation or prosecution, and continues to operate uninterrupted.The site still designates the firm as a hate group today, while Michigan’s press release was removed from state websites years ago — now only accessible through records requests. Notably, American Freedom keeps a copy of the press release posted on its own website, which puzzled the court.“To the extent American Freedom believes the press release continues to cause reputational harm, that injury almost certainly is ‘self-inflicted,’” Readler said in the ruling.Ultimately, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s 2025 dismissal for lack of standing, which held the firm failed to prove Michigan intended to target political opponents or caused any cognizable injury that could be redressed in court.Readler also issued a concurring opinion, noting American Freedom might’ve had a stronger legal argument for standing if it framed its theories differently and utilized the “republishing” principle to argue the hyperlink to the hate map effectively republished the SPLC’s designation.Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Jane Stranch, a Barack Obama appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judge Rachel Bloomekatz, a Joe Biden appointee, rounded out the three-judge panel along with Readler.Neither the Michigan Attorney General’s Office nor American Freedom responded to initial requests for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads