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"Hate Map" Lawsuit Dismissed

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - A federal judge has thrown out a Baltimore lawyer's lawsuit accusing the Southern Poverty Law Center of defaming him in an article and a "hate map" that tied him to a neo-Nazi group.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects the law center's publications about attorney Glen K. Allen in 2016. Blake said Allen didn't dispute the law center article's "underlying factual assertions" about his history of supporting the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group.

Allen sued the law center and two of its former employees last December. He claimed the publications ruined his reputation and cost him his job as an independent contractor at the City of Baltimore Law Department.

Allen said he plans to appeal the judge's ruling.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.