The Docket: August 21, 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.
PLF client Yi Fang Chen joins Kathy Hoekstra for a new episode of American Heroes—discussing NYC’s discriminatory school admissions policy; a California small business owner beats back an agency’s attempt to silence him; and an association of modular builders challenges Oregon’s out-of-state wage mandate.
Victory! California Supreme Court declines review, leaving appeals court ruling intact in anti-SLAPP free-speech case
In April, we introduced you to Spencer Defty, a small business owner who has spent decades proving that construction and agriculture can coexist with environmental responsibility. Spencer is exactly the kind of steward that California’s environmental regulators should celebrate. Instead, agency officials targeted him over alleged violations of standards the agency had never published.
When Spencer announced his intention to challenge the agency in court earlier this year, the agency filed an enforcement action and eventually moved to strike his claims under California’s anti-SLAPP statute—a law designed to protect individuals from being silenced by abusive litigation, not to shield government agencies from legitimate challenges by the people they regulate.
This week, the California Supreme Court denied the agency’s petition for review, leaving in place the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the government cannot turn anti-SLAPP statutes against Americans with legitimate legal claims. You can read more about Spencer’s story and the constitutional stakes of his fight below, including the rare invitation PLF attorney Caitlyn Fellner received to argue as amicus curiae—or “friend of the court.”
Builders sue to stop Oregon’s out-of-state wage mandate
On Wednesday, PLF attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Modular Building Institute challenging Oregon’s attempt to extend its “prevailing wage law” beyond its borders—to factories in other states and countries—as long as the final product finds its way to an Oregon public project.
Worse, businesses have no reliable way to know in advance whether their work falls under the state’s requirements. The rule doesn’t define which off-site fabrication is covered, leaving manufacturers to guess—and risk being penalized for guessing wrong.
As PLF attorney Wilson Freeman points out: “The Constitution protects a national economy where businesses can compete under predictable rules—not a system where every state can export its regulations nationwide.”
American Hero Yi Fang Chen fights for equal opportunity in NYC schools
On this month’s episode of American Heroes, PLF client Yi Fang Chen joined our own Kathy Hoekstra to discuss her lawsuit challenging New York City’s discriminatory school admissions policy aimed at decreasing the number of Asian American and white students admitted to the City’s prestigious public Specialized High Schools.
Listen to the full nine-minute conversation—or catch the highlights—at the link below.
After five warrantless searches, this Dallas attorney is taking his fight to the Supreme Court
George Anibowei is a Dallas immigration attorney and a naturalized U.S. citizen. Since 2016, border agents have pulled him aside on five separate occasions when he returned from international travel, questioning him and searching his phone without a warrant.
Worried that the next search could expose privileged conversations with clients, George now leaves his phone—vital to his work—behind whenever he travels abroad.
Last Friday, George asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case against the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, challenging government directives that permit agents to search travelers’ phones without a warrant or any suspicion at all. PLF has joined attorneys from Trial Lawyers for Justice, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and Arnold & Porter to represent him free of charge.
Therapy client challenges federal rule that banned dolphin-assisted treatment in Hawaii
In September 2021, a career employee at the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a sweeping regulation called the Approach Rule, banning anyone from swimming with or approaching Hawaii’s spinner dolphins within 50 yards.
The rule effectively destroyed an entire industry and cut off access to dolphin-assisted therapy for people like Catherine Gatzimos, who traveled to Hawaii seeking treatment after a personal trauma.
Now, Catherine’s fighting back with PLF’s help, arguing the Constitution’s Appointments Clause reserves the power to issue binding federal regulations for Senate-confirmed officers—a mechanism to ensure democratic accountability.
