Impact Docket – 09/30/26
This week demands action. Here are 11 ways you can push back right now:
⚡ Quick Actions
ICYMI: Watch 40 Minutes for the Rule of Law and find your role protecting the midterms → Watch the recording
📩 Short-Term Engagement — Public Comments & Trainings
TOMORROW: Learn what the two Solar for All rulings mean and what you can do → Register for the Oct 1 webinar
Stop the Forest Service from stripping protections on 45 million acres of wild forest → Submit a comment by NEXT TUESDAY, Oct 6
Oppose HUD’s removal of civil rights regulations → Submit a comment by Oct 9
Stop the rollback of banking rules that support investment in low-income communities → Submit a comment by Oct 13
Protect the accuracy of the 2030 Census → Submit a comment by Oct 13🛠️ Long-Term Engagement
🛠️ Long-Term Engagement — Election Protection Efforts
Combat election disinformation (national, remote — attorneys and non-attorneys) → Join the Response Network
VIRGINIA (in person, attorneys & law students — DC/MD/VA): Serve as a Frontline Legal Advocate on Election Day → Register for the Oct 9 info session
TEXAS (in person, attorneys): Serve as a Frontline Legal Monitor where coverage is thinnest → Learn more and sign up
MICHIGAN (in person, attorneys): Serve as an Election Protection Attorney → Sign up for a shift
MONTANA, MISSOURI & COLORADO: Defend the courts and our rights at the ballot box — CI-132, Amendment 3, and 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.
📌 If you’d rather not receive the weekly Impact Docket but still want to get other L4GG emails, you can opt out of just this newsletter here.
🔴 The Moment We're In: Who Will Be at the Polls
Attorney General Todd Blanche has asked, “Why is there objection to sending ICE officers to polling places?” FBI Director Kash Patel has refused to rule it out. On Sept. 24, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the Democratic Party sued in federal court to stop it, arguing that ICE and FBI agents at polling places would intimidate voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act, Roll Call reported.
The next day, the Supreme Court let the administration resume using its SAVE database to identify voters for removal from the rolls, though federal law bars systematic purges of voter rolls within 90 days of an election. The fraud it is meant to catch is vanishingly rare. According to Time magazine, DHS has pursued about 1,600 voter fraud cases since January 2025, leading to 160 arrests, in a country of roughly 174 million registered voters. In Nevada, state election officials found that all 185 people DHS flagged as noncitizen voters were in fact U.S. citizens. “The problem is infinitesimal,” Stephen Richer of the Cato Institute told Time.
Agents at the polls and errors on the rolls fall hardest on eligible voters who have no one there to help them. Lawyers who show up can change that. If you missed yesterday’s 40 Minutes for the Rule of Law, the recording is a quick way to find where you fit. This docket has 11 ways to act, from monitoring polling places in Virginia, Texas and Michigan to flagging disinformation from home, plus comment deadlines on housing discrimination, the 2030 Census and community investment.
Eleven actions in this docket. Pick one. Start there.
⚡ QUICK ACTIONS
📺 ICYMI: Watch 40 Minutes for the Rule of Law
Yesterday, lawyers from across the country joined the Nation of Laws Coalition for 40 Minutes for the Rule of Law, a fast virtual rally on where lawyers are needed most this November. If you missed it, watch the recording, then take our two-minute survey. A real person on the L4GG team reads every response and will send you a few election protection opportunities that fit.
📩 SHORT-TERM ENGAGEMENT- PUBLIC COMMENTS & TRAININGS
☀️ TOMORROW: Solar for All Webinar — What the Rulings Mean and What You Can Do
📍 Register here | Thursday, Oct 1 | 2:00 PM ET | Zoom
Two federal courts have now ruled that EPA unlawfully terminated Solar for All, the $7 billion program Congress created to bring affordable solar power to low-income families. L4GG and our co-counsel helped win the first of those rulings in Rhode Island on Sept. 18. Join L4GG and the Southern Environmental Law Center as we walk through both decisions and the most effective steps you can take to make sure EPA follows the law. The webinar is open to anyone affected by the program, including grantees, the families and communities they serve, and lawyers who want to help.
Register for the Oct 1 webinar.
🌲 Submit a Comment: Stop the Forest Service from Removing Protections on Millions of Acres of Wild Forest — Due NEXT TUESDAY
📍 Follow the steps below | Comment deadline: NEXT TUESDAY, October 6
The U.S. Forest Service wants to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which has protected more than 45 million acres of national forest across 39 states for 25 years. These lands safeguard drinking water, endangered species habitat, outdoor recreation and wildfire risk reduction. Repeal would open them to road construction and, ultimately, commercial logging, mining and drilling. Comments close next week.
Read resources from The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club to draft your comment
Submit your comment by October 6, 2026
Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment
🏠 Submit a Comment: Oppose HUD’s Removal of Civil Rights Regulations
📍 Follow the steps below | Comment deadline: October 9
HUD is proposing to eliminate the department’s longstanding disparate impact regulations that implement Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin by recipients of federal financial assistance, including federally assisted housing. Disparate impact is a legal tool to address discrimination that may not be immediately obvious due to facially neutral policies. Unlike other recent rulemakings by the Trump Administration that rescind Title VI regulations, this one actually has a public comment period. Make your voices heard to oppose these actions.
Read Legal Defense Fund’s comment template and draft your comment
Submit your comment by October 9, 2026
Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment
🏦 Submit a Comment: Stop the Rollback of Banking Rules That Support Investment in Low-Income Communities
📍 Follow the steps below | Comment deadline: October 13
The Treasury Department is proposing to weaken obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act — the landmark law that, for nearly 50 years, has required banks to lend, invest and provide services in low- and moderate-income communities that historically faced barriers to credit and capital. Weakening it threatens funding for affordable housing, small businesses and community development. Your comment can help stop it.
Read the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s comment template and draft your comment
Submit your comment by October 13, 2026
Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment
📊 Submit a Comment: Take Action to Protect the Accuracy of the Census
📍 Follow the steps below | Comment deadline: October 13
The U.S. Census Bureau has proposed two unprecedented changes to how the 2030 census and later counts are conducted. One proposal would fundamentally alter a 230-year precedent of counting ALL residents, regardless of immigration status. A second proposal would ban questions about race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. A fair and accurate count is foundational to our democracy, as it is used to determine congressional districts, to distribute over $1 trillion in federal funding, to ensure civil rights and to conduct research that relies on accurate demographic data. Our communities — especially schools, infrastructure and health care — depend on accurate data provided by the Constitutionally-required census. Make your voice heard to oppose these changes.
Read these comment templates and draft your comment
Submit your comment by October 13, 2026
Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment
🛠️ LONG-TERM ENGAGEMENT
📡 Combat Election Disinformation: Join the Response Network
📍 L4GG.org/Disinfo | National, remote | Open to attorneys and non-attorneys
Between now and Nov. 3, voters will run into false and misleading election information online. L4GG’s Election Mis/Disinformation Response Network, built with Voter Protection Corps, trains volunteers to monitor social media, flag concerning content and support rapid response, all from home. Every shift is supervised by an election mis/disinformation expert. Two-hour shifts run Tuesdays, 6–8 PM ET, through Oct. 27, plus Election Day shifts from 6 AM–8 PM ET.
Sign up and watch the recorded training.
🏛️ VIRGINIA: Serve as a Frontline Legal Advocate on Election Day
📍 L4GG.org/VAInfo | In-person | Open to attorneys & law students (D.C., MD, VA) | Info session: Friday, Oct 9, 12:00 PM ET
In partnership with the Virginia Civic Engagement Table, L4GG is recruiting D.C., Maryland and Virginia attorneys and law students to serve as legal advocates in 17 priority locations where need is high, including college towns with large student populations. Advocates monitor voting at their assigned polling places, assist voters, and if needed, take declarations from affected voters. You do not need to be barred in Virginia. Ready now? Commit to serve and you’ll be registered automatically for the required 90-minute training on Oct. 22. Shifts are four hours on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Register for the Oct 9 info session.
⭐ TEXAS: Serve as a Frontline Legal Monitor Where the Need Is Greatest
📍 L4GG.org/TXFrontline | In person | Open to attorneys | Required training: Oct 7
In partnership with the Texas Civil Rights Project, L4GG is recruiting attorneys to serve as legal monitors in 22 priority counties where legal coverage is thin, with border and panhandle counties at the top of the list. Monitors answer voter questions, check polling places for ADA compliance and report problems. See the priority county map. When you commit, you’re registered automatically for the required two-hour training on Oct. 7. Three-hour shifts are available Oct. 19–30 and on Election Day, Nov. 3.
🗳️ MICHIGAN: Serve as an Election Protection Attorney
📍 L4GG.org/MichiganEP | In person | Open to attorneys
With the Promote the Vote Fund and the ACLU of Michigan, L4GG is recruiting attorneys to monitor early voting sites and polling places. Attorneys registered to vote in Michigan serve as challengers; others serve as poll monitors. Both engage election workers when problems arise and help collect affidavits, including for emergency same-day litigation led by the ACLU of Michigan. The 90-minute, on-demand training opens in early October; complete it at least four days before your shift. Four-hour shifts run Oct. 24–Nov. 1, plus Election Day shifts starting 7 AM, Nov. 3.
✅ MONTANA, MISSOURI & COLORADO: Defend the Courts and Our Rights at the Ballot Box
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; 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, 6–8:30 PM MDT.
🎉 Community Impact: More Than 500 Showed Up for the Rule of Law
Yesterday, more than 500 people joined 40 Minutes for the Rule of Law live, a virtual rally for lawyers hosted by the Nation of Laws Coalition, with L4GG among its 27 sponsoring organizations. In 40 minutes, election protection leaders laid out where lawyers are needed most this November, from polling places in Texas, Michigan and Virginia to the fight against online disinformation.
Thank you to everyone who showed up. The election protection opportunities above are the fastest way to turn those 40 minutes into action before Nov. 3.
We’ll be back next week with more ways to take action—but the work doesn’t stop here.
Know someone else who would be interested in this newsletter? Share this link so they can sign up too.
Join our rapid-response SMS group by texting “community” to 771-203-4895.
