The Docket: August 14, 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 California surf instructor wins his right to teach on city beaches; a West Virginia business challenges the constitutionality of environmental groups’ citizen suit; and a Utah homebuilder files a lawsuit over U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ overreach.
Utah homebuilder fights for right to provide housing to his community
When Lew Swain and his business partner Brent Bailey set out to transform a 142-acre lot in the burgeoning area north of Salt Lake City into a 265-home subdivision, they did everything by the book.
After years of planning and permitting delays, with escalating demands from the Army Corps of Engineers that still ended in a denied permit—effectively killing the project—Lew and Brent knew it was time to take a stand.
Now, they’re fighting back with a federal lawsuit asking the court to rein in the agency’s abuse of power based on PLF’s 2023 Supreme Court victory in Sackett v. EPA.
Surf instructor wins fight to teach in Newport Beach
Late last month, PLF client Jason Murchison reached a settlement with the City of Newport Beach, California, securing his right to teach paid surf lessons on city beaches.
The settlement restores Jason’s ability to run his business, Learn to Surf, and puts him on equal footing with competitors the City long had favored.
West Virginia business challenges ‘citizen suit’ as an unconstitutional delegation of executive power
In April 2026, two environmental groups, the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, filed a “citizen suit” against Amsted Graphite Materials LLC, alleging violations of a discharge permit at Amsted’s manufacturing plant in Anmoore, West Virginia.
To file their suit, the environmental groups relied on a 1972 provision of the Clean Water Act (CWA). But as Amsted argues, with the legal representation of PLF and Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, the CWA’s citizen-suit provision is an unconstitutional delegation of executive power.
