Impact Docket – 05/27/26
This week demands action. Here are NINE ways you can push back right now:
⚡ Quick Actions
Add Your Name: Attorney Sign On Letter Opposing Todd Blanche as Attorney General → Sign the open letter
Tell the Senate: Reject Schwartz for the Second Circuit → Write to your senators
Tell Congress: Pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act → Write to Congress
Tell Congress: Vote NO on $71 billion more for ICE → Write to Congress
🏛️ State-Level Advocacy
NJ RESIDENTS: The Senate votes TOMORROW — tell your legislators to shield providers from out-of-state attacks → Send your letter in 2 minutes
📩 Short-Term Engagement
Oppose weakened rules for coal ash dumps → Use resources (below) to submit a comment by June 12
Keep clean energy tax credits accessible for nonprofits, schools, and local governments → Use resources (below) to submit a comment ASAP
🛠️ Long-Term Engagement
Volunteer with Detention Bridge — interpreters urgently needed → Sign up
🎉 Save the Date!
L4GG's 10th Anniversary Convening in D.C. → Sign up to be first to know!
Whether you have 2 minutes or 2 days, join the fight. Keep reading for more context.
🔴 The Moment We're In: A Giant Conflict of Interest
Last week, our Executive Director Traci Feit Love went on MSNBC's Deadline: White House and named the DOJ's $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund" for what it is: "A giant conflict of interest masquerading as a legal outcome."
The fund — created without congressional approval, carved out of a settlement of the president's own lawsuit against the IRS — is controlled by a commission appointed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal criminal defense attorney. When asked under oath whether people who assaulted police officers on January 6 could receive payouts, Blanche refused to rule it out. Even the Senate Majority Leader called it a problem. And the first person to file a claim? A longtime Trump adviser asking for $2.7 million.
This is taxpayer money flowing through a DOJ that has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, fired its own top ethics lawyer, and confirmed it is working to implement an executive order restricting mail voting — all under the leadership of a man who said Americans should be "happy" the president is deeply involved in DOJ decisions.
1,500+ lawyers have signed L4GG's open letter opposing Blanche as Attorney General. That number needs to keep growing - add your name and spread the word at L4GG.org/BlockBlanche.
This week's docket has 9 actions. Pick one. Start there.
⚡ QUICK ACTIONS
📜 Tell the Senate: Oppose Todd Blanche as Attorney General
You read the details above. Blanche has also stated publicly that Americans should be "happy" the president is "deeply involved" in DOJ decisions, and dismissed White House independence from the Department of Justice as "the most false statement I have ever heard." These positions are disqualifying. Sign our attorney letter to the Senate and spread the word.
📜 Tell the Senate: Reject Matthew Schwartz for the Second Circuit
Trump has nominated his personal attorney to a lifetime seat on the Second Circuit — the court that hears appeals from the Southern District of New York. Matthew Schwartz is currently representing Trump in the appeal of his 34-count felony conviction and in the appeal of a finding that Trump fraudulently inflated asset values by up to $2.2 billion annually. His reward is a nomination to the court with jurisdiction over the very district that prosecuted his client.
Schwartz has also asked the Supreme Court to overturn the precedent protecting Americans from housing discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, and argued against class certification for investors defrauded by Barclays. The president has said publicly that it is "OK" for justices to be "loyal to the person that appointed them." Schwartz is who that loyalty test produces.Tell the Senate to vote NO on his confirmation.
📜 Tell Congress: Pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act
No president should be able to accept a $400 million jet from a foreign government, sell pardons, or run a pay-to-play scheme from the Oval Office. The Protecting Our Democracy Act closes the legal gaps that have allowed all three.
H.R. 8831 (House) and S. 2838 (Senate) would codify the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses, prohibit the president from accepting payments from pardon recipients or appointees, strengthen whistleblower protections, require presidential candidates to submit tax returns to the FEC, and depoliticize the civil service. L4GG is among the bill's endorsers. Constitutional norms only hold when they are written into enforceable law. Write to Congress.
📜 Tell Congress: Vote NO on $71 Billion More for ICE
We've been holding this line since January. Trump wants this on his desk by June 1 — time is running out.
After months of pressure from lawyers, advocates, and more than 1,000 organizations — L4GG among them — DHS appropriations stalled for 76 days because Democrats demanded real guardrails. Congressional Republicans responded with reconciliation: a fast-track process to bypass the filibuster and every reform on the table.
The reconciliation bill would allocate $71 billion in new mandatory funds for ICE and CBP — on top of the $170 billion Congress approved last summer by cutting health care and food assistance. No body cameras, warrants or restrictions on raids - plus a wave of amendments designed to criminalize and surveil immigrant communities. Tell Congress: Vote NO.
🏛️ STATE-LEVEL ADVOCACY
🩺 NJ RESIDENTS: Tell the NJ Legislature to Vote YES on S. 2260/A. 2218 — The Senate Votes TOMORROW
The full New Jersey Senate is expected to vote tomorrow on S. 2260/A. 2218 — a bill that shields New Jersey providers, patients, and the people who support them from out-of-state attacks on lawful healthcare. Texas is suing California doctors. Louisiana is indicting New York physicians. New Jersey's 2022 shield law was a national first — but the threats have escalated faster than anyone anticipated. This bill closes the gaps.
S. 2260/A. 2218 codifies Governor Murphy's Executive Order 326 and expands protections to cover both reproductive and gender-affirming care. It confirms that NJ providers and patients are subject solely to New Jersey and federal law — and that out-of-state subpoenas, judgments, and criminal processes targeting lawful care will not be honored here.
Two ways to show up right now:
✉️ Send your letter in under 2 minutes at L4GG.org/ShieldNJ — we've already drafted it. A legislator who hears from constituents before a floor vote pays attention.
🏛️ Rally at the State House on June 11, 9 AM–12 PM (TBD) — join LGBTQ+ advocates, allies, and legislators in person to send a clear message that New Jerseyans want and deserve
📩 SHORT-TERM ENGAGEMENT
🏭 Submit a Comment: Oppose Weakened Rules for Coal Ash Dumps
📍Follow the steps below | Comment deadline: June 12
The EPA is proposing to weaken rules on coal ash — the toxic byproduct of coal-fired power plants. This rule would exempt plant owners from ensuring their coal ash isn't polluting groundwater and poisoning nearby residents, and give more latitude to states to regulate these sites despite historic evidence that many states haven't used that authority to protect their residents.
The public hearing is tomorrow, May 28 — you can listen in here. The comment deadline is June 12.
Read Earthjustice and Sierra Club's Comment Toolkit and draft your comment
Submit your comment via the Federal Register by June 12, 2026
Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment
📝 Submit a Comment: IRS regulations on Prohibited Foreign Entities (PFE)
📍Follow the steps below | Late comments still accepted — submit ASAP
Last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” added restrictions that disqualify clean energy projects from federal tax credits if they violate the “prohibited foreign entity” rules. The IRS is now writing the proposed rules that will decide how strict those restrictions will be and is allowing late public comments to help inform them on how to write these rules. This matters for the tax-exempt entities (municipalities, state agencies, schools, tribal governments, nonprofits, houses of worship, etc.) that want to claim the clean electricity investment or production tax credits through Elective Pay to fund solar, energy storage, geothermal, and other projects. If the rules are written too broadly, these organizations could lose access to credits they were counting on. For additional background on the PFE rules see L4GG’s Guidance Briefs: Prohibited Foreign Entity Restrictions and Notice 2026-15 Material Assistance Safe Harbors.
Comments are particularly helpful from tax-exempt entities eligible to claim elective pay tax credits, and anyone can comment on any aspect of the PFE restrictions.
Read L4GG / NRDC's Comment Template & Comment Training Slides.
Draft your comment & submit it via the Federal Register as soon as possible.
Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment
🛠️ LONG-TERM ENGAGEMENT
🌉 Volunteer with L4GG's Detention Bridge Project — Interpreters Needed
L4GG is urgently seeking attorneys to support detained immigrants at Fort Bliss and Dilley Detention Centers — both in person and remotely — to conduct intakes, document conditions for advocacy and litigation, and serve as counsel for bond hearings, habeas petitions, and individual immigration cases. Right now, we especially need attorneys with language skills and/or access to interpreters to conduct intakes. Sign up and complete the training requirements you’ll receive by email.
No immigration experience required. L4GG provides malpractice insurance, research access, mentoring, and administrative support. Sign up today!
📅 Save the Date: L4GG's 10th Anniversary Convening — February 2027
The attorneys, advocates, and movement-builders who have shaped L4GG's first ten years are coming together — and we want you in the room. Join us in Washington, D.C. for a landmark convening to celebrate our community and build our next chapter. Sign up to be the first to know when registration opens. Your feedback shapes the programming.
🎉 Community Impact: 1,500 Lawyers and Counting!
Since launching L4GG's open letter opposing Todd Blanche as Attorney General last week, more than 1,500 attorneys have added their names. That's 1,500 lawyers publicly saying that a president's former personal defense attorney should not run the Department of Justice. The letter is still open — and every signature makes it harder to ignore. If you haven’t already, add yours and please help us spread the word.
We’ll be back next week with more ways to take action—but the work doesn’t stop here.
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