The Docket: May 8, 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 clients celebrate a historic home birth in Nebraska; the California Coastal Commission is at the center of a new lawsuit; and a New Orleans social worker readies for round two in her fight to earn a living.
California homeowners sue Coastal Commission over unconstitutional permit conditions
Yesterday, PLF clients John and Marcella Seidensticker filed a federal lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission for refusing to allow them to rebuild their aging home—unless they agree to more than a dozen “special conditions,” including waiving any future right to protect their home against storms, erosion, or other potential damage.
PLF attorney Jeremy Talcott describes the Commission’s stipulations as “an obvious violation of the law and completely unsupported by the governing regulations.”
This lawsuit follows another PLF case—Shear v. California Coastal Commission—that resulted in a unanimous California Supreme Court ruling limiting the Commission’s authority to second-guess local governments across the state’s coastal zone.
A historic home birth in Nebraska
On April 26, former PLF client Hope Lindstrom gave birth to a healthy baby girl at home under the care of certified nurse midwives (CNMs). It was the first legally authorized CNM-assisted home birth to ever take place in Nebraska. Home birth itself is legal in all 50 states, and CNMs are among the most highly trained childbirth providers in the country. But in Nebraska, CNMs are prohibited from attending home births.
After filing a lawsuit to vindicate her constitutional rights, Hope ultimately achieved the home birth experience she sought for herself and her family, but other Nebraska mothers still lack the freedom to do the same. Hope’s courage throughout this journey has been an inspiration—and PLF is determined to continue fighting until this fundamental freedom is restored to all mothers across Nebraska and the United States.
New Orleans social worker continues fight for her right to earn a living
In Louisiana, all new respite care providers—like PLF client Ursula Newell Davis—must apply for a Facility Needs Review (FNR) before opening their doors. FNRs act as permission slips from the government, artificially reducing supply of critical services, driving up costs, and worsening outcomes—all to protect existing businesses from competition.
It’s a battle Ursula knows all too well—and one she’s been fighting for years. This week, PLF’s Brittany Hunter chronicles Ursula’s journey—from the day in 2023 when the Supreme Court declined to hear her case to the new lawsuit she filed with PLF’s help in March.
Tennessee law lets hospitals compete, putting patients first
On Wednesday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation eliminating certificate of need requirements for new acute care hospitals, satellite emergency departments, and cardiac catheterization services—a win for patients and healthcare providers who have long been blocked from entering the market by anticompetitive government red tape.
PLF senior state policy manager Kileen Lindgren celebrated the new reform, calling it “a victory for every patient who deserves access to more providers, lower costs, and better care.”
PLF in the News
Washington Examiner: How Congress can claw back its oversight power
The Hill: New York’s race-based STEM programs face constitutional challenges
The Topeka Capital-Journal: How this Kansas law will protect nurses from clerical errors
Yale Journal on Regulation: Doomsday predictions about Jarkesy just don’t add up
New York Post: How NYC’s elite high schools discriminate—on mayor’s orders
