Impact Docket – 09/16/26
This week demands action. Here are ten ways you can push back right now:
⚡ Quick Actions
Tell the Senate: Reject Dr. Heidi Overton for FDA Commissioner → Write to the Senate
Lawyers to the Senate: Designate Haiti for TPS — pass S.4814 → Contact the Senate
📩 Short-Term Engagement — Public Comments & Trainings
TOMORROW: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 101 for attorneys → Register for the September 17 webinar
Fault Lines: What this SCOTUS term exposed — and what comes next → Register for the September 22 event
Stop the Education Department from politicizing accreditation of colleges and law schools → Use resources (below) to submit a comment by MONDAY, Sept 21
Stop the Forest Service from stripping protections on 45 million acres of wild forest → Use resources (below) to submit a comment by Oct 6
🛠️ Long-Term Engagement
Combat election disinformation — attorneys and non-attorneys, fully remote → Join the Response Network
TEXAS: Serve as a Frontline Legal Monitor where coverage is needed most → Register for the September 28 info session
MICHIGAN: Train as an Election Protection Attorney → Register for the September 18 training
🏛️ State-Level Advocacy
Defend the courts and our rights: Montana CI-132, Missouri Amendment 3, and Colorado Props 134 & 135 → see how to help in your state below
Whether you have 2 minutes or 2 days, join the fight. Keep reading for more context.
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🔴 The Moment We're In: A Win Worth Naming
On Monday night, the Supreme Court blocked the Postal Service from imposing new restrictions on mail-in voting for the November election. The rule — built to carry out the president's executive order — would have let USPS withhold ballots from voters not on a government-approved list and reject ballot envelopes that didn't meet new federal specifications. One in three Americans votes by mail. For this election, that door stays open.
It's worth pausing on how this win happened, because it's the whole argument for why lawyers matter right now. The rule didn't collapse on its own. Multiple states and organizations sued. Two federal judges issued injunctions. A whistleblower came forward to reveal the Postal Service had rushed the system in weeks and pressed on even after being ordered to stop. The courts looked at the record those advocates built and said no — even a Supreme Court that gave the administration the benefit of the doubt on almost everything else. Justice Kavanaugh, concurring, called applying the rule this close to an election “arbitrary and capricious.”
But a paused rule is not a settled question. The administration has signaled it will keep pushing this for future elections, and mail voting is only one front — voter-roll purges, redistricting fights, and a rising tide of disinformation are all still live. That is why this week's docket leans so heavily on protecting the vote: training to monitor election disinformation, serving as an election protection attorney in Michigan or a frontline legal monitor in Texas, and standing up for judicial independence on the ballot in three states. This week, the system held because people showed up. It will need us again.
⚡ QUICK ACTIONS
⚖️ Tell the Senate: Reject Dr. Heidi Overton for FDA Commissioner
Trump is now pressing the Senate to fast-track Dr. Heidi Overton's confirmation before the midterms — and even the Republican chair of the Senate health committee has called her role in the administration's childhood-vaccine order “almost disqualifying.” Overton has pushed to restrict mifepristone, the FDA-approved medication used safely for decades in abortion and miscarriage care. The agency that regulates that medication shouldn't be led by someone determined to limit it. The confirmation math is tight — a few senators will decide this.
Tell the Senate to reject this nomination.
🇭🇹 Lawyers to the Senate: Designate Haiti for TPS
Temporary Protected Status for Haiti officially ended last month, stripping legal protection from roughly 330,000 people while gangs control most of the capital and 1.5 million remain displaced. S.4814 would restore it. The House has already acted; the Senate is where this now lives. As lawyers, we know that when a country meets every legal criterion for protection, the law should follow the facts.
📩 SHORT-TERM ENGAGEMENT- PUBLIC COMMENTS & TRAININGS
📄 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 101 for Attorneys — TOMORROW
📍 L4GG.org/FOIA101 | Thursday, September 17 | 2:00 PM ET | Zoom
The Freedom of Information Act gives any person the right to request government records — a powerful tool for transparency and accountability. This introductory training covers when and how to submit effective requests, how to navigate agency responses and exemptions, and how to use what you obtain in litigation, advocacy, and public education.
This session will be recorded and shared with all registrants. MCLE credit: approved for 1 unit of general MCLE credit in California, pending in Texas (must attend live to receive credit). Register for the September 17 webinar.
⚖️ Fault Lines: What This SCOTUS Term Exposed — and What Comes Next
📍 L4GG.org/SCOTUS | Tuesday, September 22 | 3:30 PM ET | Zoom
Last term's Supreme Court rulings didn't happen in isolation — they trace back through Dobbs, Shelby County, and beyond. Join Somil Trivedi (Court Accountability), Gary DiBianco (L4GG), and Khadijah Silver (L4GG) for a conversation that goes past the usual case recap to ask a harder question: what structural flaws in our judiciary keep producing these outcomes, and what would it take to fix them? We'll also look at what's on the docket next term.
This session will be recorded and shared with all registrants. Register for the September 22 event.
🎓 Submit a Comment: Stop the Education Department from Politicizing Accreditation — DEADLINE MONDAY, SEPT 21
📍 Follow the steps below | Comment deadline: MONDAY, September 21
The Education Department is proposing to overhaul the college accreditation process in ways that would threaten academic freedom, jeopardize access to federal financial aid, and target any program the administration deems “DEI.” This comes on top of its recent move to strip the American Bar Association of its authority to accredit law schools. Accreditation is meant to be a check on quality, not a political weapon. Your comment can help build the record to stop it.
1. Read the Alliance for Higher Education's toolkit and draft your comment
2. Submit your comment by September 21, 2026
3. Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment
🌲 Submit a Comment: Stop the Forest Service from Removing Protections on Millions of Acres of Wild Forest
📍 Follow the steps below | Comment deadline: October 6
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. For 25 years, this rule has protected more than 45 million acres of national forest across 39 states — safeguarding drinking water, endangered species habitat, outdoor recreation, and wildfire risk reduction. Repealing it would open these areas to road construction and, ultimately, commercial logging, mining, and drilling. Your comment can help protect our forests.
1. Read resources from The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club to draft your comment
2. Submit your comment by October 6, 2026
3. Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment
🛠️ LONG-TERM ENGAGEMENT
📡 Combat Election Disinformation: Join the Response Network
As bad actors flood the information ecosystem ahead of the midterms, voters face growing barriers to reliable, verified information. L4GG's Election Mis/Disinformation Response Network — built with Voter Protection Corps — trains volunteers to identify election-related misinformation before it spreads and support rapid response. Open to attorneys and non-attorneys alike. Watch the on-demand training, complete the checklist, and sign up for monitoring shifts (Tuesdays 6–8 PM ET, plus Election Day).
Watch the training and get started.
⭐ TEXAS: Serve as a Frontline Legal Monitor Where the Need Is Greatest
📍 L4GG.org/TexasEP | Info session: Monday, September 28 | 3:00 PM CT | Zoom
Legal deserts are real, and this election, 22 priority Texas counties need attorneys on the ground. In partnership with the Texas Civil Rights Project, L4GG is recruiting Frontline Legal Monitors to answer voter questions, check polling places for compliance, and flag problems as they arise. Join the info session to learn what the role involves and which counties need coverage most — no commitment required to attend.
Register for the September 28 info session.
🗳️ MICHIGAN: Train as an Election Protection Attorney
📍 L4GG.org/MichiganEP | Friday, September 18 | 12:00 PM ET | Zoom
L4GG, the Promote the Vote Fund, and the ACLU Fund of Michigan are recruiting attorneys to serve as Election Protection Attorneys, serving as both nonpartisan poll challengers and affidavit collectors at Michigan voting sites, strengthening the evidentiary basis for any emergency litigation. Licensed attorneys from any state can help; registered Michigan voters are preferred as challengers, but others can serve as monitors. This launch session unlocks the required asynchronous training.
🏛️ State-Level Advocacy
🗳️ Defend the Courts and Our Rights — State Ballot Measures
Several states are voting on measures that will shape judicial independence and fundamental rights. If you're in one of these states, your voice carries real weight — and several campaigns have remote ways to help from anywhere.
Montana — Vote YES on CI-132
Montana politicians recently passed a bill allowing political parties to contribute large sums of money to judicial candidates. CI-132 would enshrine nonpartisan judicial elections in the state constitution, keeping politics out of the courts. Get involved with Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts: in Montana, add your name or display a placard in your office window; from anywhere, boost the campaign on Facebook, Instagram, or X.
Missouri — Vote NO on Amendment 3
In 2024, Missouri voters ended the state's abortion ban and enshrined the Right to Reproductive Freedom in the state constitution. Now politicians are pushing to overturn the will of the people and ban abortion in nearly all cases again. Get involved and Stop the Ban: in Missouri, canvass across the state or in St. Louis this weekend; from anywhere, phone bank every other Monday and Wednesday, 6:30–8:00 PM CST.
Colorado — Vote NO on Props 134 & 135
Both measures take decisions out of the hands of experts and families: Prop 134 subjects kids to invasive gender checks, and Prop 135 interferes with kids' medical care — both with no appeals process. Get involved with Families, Not Politics: in Colorado, canvass in Centennial, West Colfax, East Denver, or Colorado Springs, or share your story; from anywhere, phone bank on Wednesdays, 6:00–8:30 PM MDT.
We’ll be back next week with more ways to take action—but the work doesn’t stop here.
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