Municipal-securities advisor takes his jury trial fight to a federal appeals court
On September 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit heard oral arguments in Choice Advisors, LLC, and Matthias O'Meara v. Securities and Exchange Commission—a case that will help decide whether the SEC can strip Americans of their right to make a living through its own in-house courts. PLF senior attorney Oliver Dunford argued bef ...
239 years later, the Constitution still depends on the people
On September 17, 1787, delegates in Philadelphia signed the finalized U.S. Constitution. Two hundred thirty-nine years later, Constitution Day seems to hit a little harder than it has before. Perhaps it's because we just celebrated America's 250th birthday two months ago. Or maybe it's because we lost constitutional scholar Gordon S. Wood a few wee ...
USA Today : Medicare now covers CBD, but Congress wants to ban it
A new Medicare pilot program covers hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products to treat certain patients, even as Congress is moving forward with a law that will effectively wipe those same products off the market. The resulting policy quagmire threatens patient access, undermines the work of entrepreneurs and highlights a deeper truth: Hemp alread ...
The Washington Post : ‘Black boxes’ on lobster boats set a dangerous precedent for America
Eating enough lobster could kill me; eating even a little could ruin my day. Nevertheless, I took two flights and drove 85 miles up the rainy Maine coast to get from Sacramento to the Maine Lobster Festival. My work usually takes me to public policy conferences. This time, I found myself sitting in a sprawling market, surrounded by vendors selli ...
The Docket : September 11, 2026
The Docket is PLF's weekly newsletter covering the cases, clients, and policy battles shaping the future of liberty in America. You can catch up on last week's Docket here and subscribe below to receive future editions in your inbox. A former corrections officer asks the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his case over racially hostile ...
Justice Gorsuch charts the path to “return, all the way, to the Constitution”
Last term, the Supreme Court took a major step toward restoring the separation of powers. In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court ruled that congressional limitations on the president's authority to remove commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are unconstitutional. As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, "Subordinates who exercise the Presid ...
National Review : It’s Not Just the Economics, Stupid
In her new book, Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, Stephanie Slade sets out to describe and recover a political philosophy that faded in the years after it succeeded. Fusionism helped shape the movement that Ronald Reagan led. But what it fused — liberty and virtue — came apart over the four decades since he left ...
Court finds constitutional violation in fishery council, lets rule stand anyway
A federal appeals court just handed the government a win in its fight to control how much fish American fishermen can catch—even after ruling that the officials who wrote the regulation were never lawfully appointed. On September 3, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit agreed that members of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management ...
The Hill : More discrimination among expectant moms is a bad prescription
Weeks before her due date, first-time mother Erica Jimenez sought help with her pregnancy. Yet Jimenez was excluded from California's Black Infant Health Program because she was not the right race. When Jimenez attempted to access the program, a representative told her that the program was not for her and offered to show her other resources. Exc ...