Who gets to define “hate?” Evidently for House Democrats, it’s the leftist hate-mongering Southern Poverty Law Center. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee last week called for stripping tax-exempt status from organizations on a list of “hate groups” — a list created by the SPLC that consists of mostly conservative groups.

The call to strip groups on the SPLC list of their tax-exempt status came during a Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee hearing that focused on “How The Tax Code Subsidizes Hate.” The Washington Examiner reports, “Some of the bigger organizations on the list include the fundamentalist Protestant group American Family Association, which opposes gay rights, the anti-immigration organization Federation for American Immigration Reform, the conservative think tank the Center for Security Policy, and the socially conservative group the Family Research Council. The groups were designated as ‘hate groups’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that itself is controversial and whose founder was fired this year for misconduct.”

The Examiner notes that no legislation has been proposed at this time, though this serves as a warning foreshadowing what Democrats will seek to do should they regain majority control of both the House and Senate.