The runners up for Litigator of the Week include Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s Jon Youngwood and the Southern Poverty Law Center, who are challenging Mississippi’s criminal disenfranchisement scheme on constitutional grounds. The Southern District of Mississippi granted class certification in Harness v. Hosemann in a ruling that could open the door to restoring voting rights for people convicted of offenses as minor as writing a bad check—and pave the way for a similar suit pending in Alabama.
Beveridge & Diamond principal James Slaughter won a pair of victories for Chiquita Canyon Landfill—one of California’s largest such facilities. Following a September trial, Slaughter beat back a $5 million enforcement order by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, which alleged Chiquita failed to pay millions in disposal fees. Five days later, Slaughter won an interlocutory appeal in Chiquita’s fight with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors over permitting.
