The Docket: September 25, 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’s Ceanna Daniels breaks down three PLF petitions scheduled for the Supreme Court’s long conference; a gifted student and start-up founder recruited by Google files a federal lawsuit challenging discriminatory admissions at the University of Washington; and a Texas-based spray foam manufacturer challenges California’s “pay-to-play” fee.
A Supreme Court preview: PLF cases at the long conference
A fifth-generation Maine lobsterman tracked by GPS around the clock. A Los Angeles doctor required to teach state-approved implicit bias curricula. And a pair of shopping centers forced to platform a “men’s rights” activist against their will.
On Monday, September 28, the Supreme Court will consider whether to take up all three PLF cases—among others—at the Court’s “long conference.”
PLF’s Ceanna Daniels breaks down each case and what’s at stake in her latest on the PLF blog.
Gifted student challenges University of Washington’s race-conscious admissions policy
By the time Stanley Zhong graduated from high school, he had a 4.42 GPA, a 1590 SAT score, and his own software company. At 18, he had a job offer from Google.
Still, Stanley decided he wanted to earn a college degree before entering the workforce, so he applied to the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering—and was rejected.
With PLF’s help, Stanley’s now fighting back with a lawsuit challenging the school’s admissions policy as unconstitutional—arguing UW set a higher bar for Asian American applicants in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
Spray foam manufacturer challenges California’s ‘pay-to-play’ fee requirement
PLF client Quadrant Performance Materials was founded just three years ago, but the Texas company is already the fifth-largest spray foam manufacturer in the country.
In August 2026, California regulators began charging spray foam makers—like Quadrant—two cents for every pound of material sold in the state, and handing the money to a private organization to fund green research.
But the First Amendment doesn’t let the government force businesses to fund speech or research as the price of selling a lawful product, and now, Quadrant’s fighting back with a federal lawsuit to vindicate its constitutional rights.
American Heroes: Lindsay Hoopes fights to save her family’s Napa winery
Lindsay Hoopes never planned to run her family’s Napa winery. But when her father became seriously ill, she came home to carry on what he had built. Now she’s fighting to save it.
In our latest episode of American Heroes, Lindsay sits down with PLF’s Kathy Hoekstra to share her story firsthand. You can listen to the full 10-minute conversation or read the show notes to find out how a zoning dispute with Napa County morphed into more than $3.5 million in fines and legal fees.
