Former neo-Nazi’s defamation lawsuit against civil rights organisation is dismissed

A court case in which a Baltimore lawyer had sued a civil rights organisation for defamation based on articles it had written that exposed his former neo-Nazi ties has been dismissed.

Glen K. Allen, a lawyer and former member of the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist group, sued the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for defamation on the grounds that his membership to the group wasn’t a matter of public concern. However, this was rejected by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The panel made note of the fact that whilst Mr Allen was still a member of the National Alliance, he was chosen to defend the city of Baltimore against a claim from a Sabein Burgess, a black man who alleged that he was wrongfully convicted of murder and had spent nineteen years in prison.

Mr Allen was fired from his role as a lawyer for the city of Baltimore after the SPLC published an article in August 2016 where they addressed Mr Burgess’ case and labelled Mr Allen a “well-known neo-Nazi lawyer.” Included in the article were receipts of Mr Allen’s National Alliance membership fees, as well as evidence of his attendance to a “Holocaust Revisionist Conference.” The article also said that Mr Allen held the role of “Vice Chairman/Parliamentarian” in the American Eagle Party, a white nationalist political party.

In 2017, the SPLC produced a “hate map” that included a photo of Mr Allen alongside the caption: “Exposing Racists Who Infiltrate Public Institutions.”

In 2018, Mr Allen unsuccessfully sued the SPLC, as well as two of its former employees, for defamation. In 2019, he appealed his case’s dismissal, but this effort also proved unsuccessful.

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