Florida AG Calls For Impeachment Probe Into Judge’s SPLC Ties

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is calling on Congress to launch an impeachment inquiry into a Biden-appointed federal judge over her past role working for the now-indicted Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

In his Monday letter addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, House Oversight Chair James Comer, and Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, Uthmeier requested that Republicans probe 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Nancy Abudu “to determine whether her service as a top attorney for the [SPLC] warrants her impeachment and removal” from the bench. Abudu had served as the far-left group’s deputy legal director and director for Strategic Litigation beginning in 2019, and the Senate confirmed her in May 2023.

“Only those of the highest character are fit to administer laws in this great Nation,” Uthmeier wrote. “In light of recent revelations concerning potential criminal conduct by SPLC, Judge Abudu’s leadership role within SPLC raises serious questions about what she knew and did and whether she should continue serving on the federal bench. As such, I strongly recommend that the House of Representatives and Senate take up their constitutional duty to serve as a check on the Judicial Branch.”

The Florida attorney general went on to detail a recent indictment by an Alabama-based grand jury against the SPLC. While regularly smearing conservative-leaning organizations as “hate groups,” the far-left SPLC is alleged to have fraudulently bankrolled actual racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan as part of a purported “covert” informant scheme.

The SPLC allegedly gave upward of $3 million in donor funds to such extremist organizations from 2014 to 2023, according to the indictment. Put another way, it was allegedly funding the extremism it proclaimed to be fighting.

[READ:[READ:SPLC Paid KKK Members Who ‘Wanted Out’ To Stay With Racist Group, DOJ Says]

While noting Abudu’s prior role within the SPLC, Uthmeier said that “[i]t strains credulity to think that [she], a senior legal officer at SPLC, wouldn’t have been aware of the organization’s alleged criminal conduct during her tenure.”

“‘Congress has the sole power of impeachment.’ And impeachments may be made for ‘high [c]rimes and [m]isdemeanors,’ for which I believe Judge Abudu may be responsible during her time with SPLC and which she may have committed by failing to disclose SPLC’s fraudulent practices during her confirmation process,” Uthmeier wrote. “The Orwellian lengths SPLC traveled to deceive its donors are particularly disturbing, given the extremist nature of the groups it supported. Judge Abudu’s potential knowledge of and involvement in SPLC’s conduct necessitates an impeachment inquiry.”

Abudu’s SPLC employment became a hot topic throughout her Senate confirmation process. The Biden appointee notably authored a 2020 SPLC article comparing laws that prohibit convicted felons from voting to “the same system as during slavery.”

“Political rhetoric is one thing, but when you have extreme leftists falsely claiming white supremacy, it illustrates that you are dealing with radical and partisan zealots,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at the time of the SPLC’s repulsive smears against Republicans.

The Senate narrowly confirmed Abudu in a 49-47 vote, with all present Republicans and then-Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., voting in opposition.

In concluding his letter to GOP congressional leadership, Uthmeier said that a sitting judge “should not be able to escape impeachment for wrongful conduct occurring prior to her appointment that may have been concealed from the Senate and the public during her confirmation process.” He further underscored Congress’s power to check the federal courts and hold “accountable individuals who have acted wrongfully.”