Hudson, H

<h2>The entire court system is infested</h2>

<div class="info"><img src="/04173a92-71a1-51c1-8efe-2e7872c09cc5.gif"/> By <a href="http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/blog/7">Jim Hightower</a><em> - Sun., 1/30/11</em>

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<b>Unfortunately, the corporatization</b> of America's judiciary is not just a problem at the top. For more than 30 years, there has been a concerted effort by such ultra-wealthy corporate supremists as the Kochs, Scaifes, DeVoses, Coors, and Murdochs to place extremist, laissez-faire ideologues throughout the federal court structure. Using their extensive, well funded, and coordinated network of front groups, these moneyed elites can now move litigation through corporate-friendly courts at the district, appellate, and supreme levels.

For example, the legal effort by right-wing operatives to scuttle Obama's health care reform has taken the path of least political resistance, for their lawyers know how to go court shopping. They file their cases in the courts of judges who were put there because they are ideologically opposed to such things as government regulation of insurance giants and health care conglomerates. Some two dozen of these 'Obamacare' cases have been generated in the past few months, pushed by a who's who of corporate-funded fronts, including the American Center for Law and Justice <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Center_for_Law_and_Justice">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Center_for_Law_and_Justice</a> , the Goldwater Institute, Judicial Watch, Liberty University  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_University">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_University</a>  , the Thomas More Law Center  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More_Law_Center">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More_Law_Center</a>, the Pacific Justice Institute, and the Pacific Legal Foundation. Carefully choosing their courts, they've filed multiple cases that go after various parts of the reform law. As an official of the Goldwater group puts it: "[Obama's] health care plan will not die in a single sweep. It will take a thousand cuts."

One of these cuts has come from<b> US District Judge Henry Hudson of Richmond, Virginia</b>. On December 13, he ruled that a key provision of Obama's reform is unconstitutional, a ruling at odds with 14 other federal judges who'd dismissed similar challenges. The judge had to resort to tortured reasoning from the Civil War era to push this flawed case forward, but, hey--you can't let legal niceties get in the way of ideology.

Peek under Hudson's judicial robe, and you'll find a naked partisan with a long career in hard-right Republican politics. A protege of Ronald Reagan and his detestable attorney general, Ed Meese, Hudson ran unsuccessfully for a Virginia congressional seat in 1991, then was given two GOP political appointments in the state before George W lifted him onto the federal bench in 2002.

Even today, as he sits in judgment of politically motivated cases, Hudson continues to draw annual income as an owner of Campaign Solutions, a Republican political consulting firm. One of its successful clients is Virginia's GOP attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, who was elected with the firm's help in 2009. Ken just happens to be the official who filed the right wing's case against Obama's health care reform in Judge Hudson's court.</p>

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<p> =</p><div class="nodeheader" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 12.800000190734863px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="node-heading"><span class="entry-date" style="color: rgb(147, 141, 121);">August 02, 2010 04:00 PM</span><h2 class="entry-title" style="font-size: 19.200000762939453px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); margin: 0px;"><a href="http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/federal-judge-virginia-has-financial-ties-r" title="Federal Judge in Virginia Has Financial Ties to Right Wing Campaign Machine" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Federal Judge in Virginia Has Financial Ties to Right Wing Campaign Machine</a></h2><div class="entry-byline" style="color: rgb(153, 41, 38); line-height: 18px;">By karoli</div></div></div><div class="node-content" style="line-height: 22px; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: justify; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; clear: both;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After <a href="http://gocl.me/d6Ldmy" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">this morning's ruling</a> from Federal judge Henry Hudson, I took a closer look at him, since his ruling seemed to try to make a record for a valid challenge to existing case law on the constitutionality of the commerce clause. The right wing has long harbored the hope of stacking the Supreme Court with enough conservatives to overturn a huge body of existing case law established when the New Deal was passed, and this ruling plays right into it.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Meet U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson. Via <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/30/henry-hudson-judge-in-hea_n_665240.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">Huffington Post</a>:</p><blockquote style="margin-left: 30px; border-left-width: 8px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-left: 5px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68);"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But with power comes scrutiny. And as judgment day approaches, a Democratic source sends over judicial disclosure forms Hudson filed that could raise questions about his impartiality. From <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/jfd/Hudson_Henry_E/2003.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">2003</a>through <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/jfd/Hudson_Henry_E/2008.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">2008</a>,<b> Hudson has been receiving "dividends" from Campaign Solutions In</b>c., among other investments. In 2008, he reported income of between $5,000 and $15,000 from the firm. (Data from 2009 was not available at the Judicial Watch database.)</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A powerhouse Republican online communications firm, Campaign Solutions, has done work for a host of prominent Republican clients and health care reform critics, including the RNC and NRCC (both of which have called, to varying degrees, for health care reform's repeal). The president of the firm, Becki Donatelli, is the wife of longtime GOP hand Frank Donatelli, and is </span><a href="http://govpalin4prez.blogspot.com/2009/01/becki-donatelli-will-run-sarahpac.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">an </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">adviser to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, among others.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Another firm client is Ken Cuccinelli,</b> the Attorney General of Virginia and the man who is bringing the lawsuit in front of Hudson's court. In 2010, records show, Cuccinelli <a href="http://www.vpap.org/vendors/profile/details/115119?start_year=2002&end_year=2010&lookup_type=year&filing_period=all&committee_id=2038" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">spent nearly</a> $9,000 for Campaign Solutions services.</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Campaign Solutions answers thus:</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-left: 30px; border-left-width: 8px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-left: 5px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68);"><p>Judge Hudson has owned stock in Campaign Solutions going back 13 years to the founding of the company or well before he became a federal judge. Since joining the federal bench, he has fully disclosed his stock ownership in the company. <strong>He is a passive investor only, has no knowledge of the day to day operations of the firm, and has never discussed any aspect of the business with any official of the company</strong>.</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ah, but the Donatelli dynasty isn't simply limited to Campaign Solutions, which is basically a turnkey campaign creator. No, no. The Donatellis are the "go to" people for all sorts of Republican fun.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Let's start with the <strong><a href="http://www.yaf.org/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Young America's Foundation</a></strong>. This is the non-profit organization for the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara. In addition to maintaining the ranch, the Young America's Foundation has training, literature and other good clean fun for indoctrinating America's youth in the ways of the Republican Party. <strong>Frank Donatelli</strong> is a director and the Secretary/Treasurer of the Young America's Foundation. (<a href="http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/990.php?ein=237042029&yr=200812&rt=990&t9=A" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">2008 Form 990 - PDF</a>) The Foundation's President is Ron Robinson. Ron Robinson is a director of Citizens United.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then there is Donatelli Group, which includes Campaign Solutions, EDonation.com, and DonationReport.com, in addition to their PR/Direct Mail arm at ConnellDonatelli and Donatelli Avella. Donatelli Avella receives $15,000/month from GOPAC for management and political consulting. Of course, the Donatelli outfit is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Donatelli_Group" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">also closely linked</a> to the Swiftboaters of 2004. Click that link for a list of some current clients, including...Young America's Foundation. Oh, and Citizens United.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words (and links):</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://cdn.crooksandliars.com/files/uploads/2010/08/donatelli_fb432.jpg" width="400" height="369" alt="donatelli_fb432.jpg" style="border: 0px;" />
(<a href="http://muckety.com/Query?name=donatelli&prev=donatelli&SearchResult=11113&SearchResult=12275&graph=MucketyMap" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">interactive map</a>)</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There's some pretty direct linkage between Frank and Rebecca Donatelli and the Koch family, the McCain campaign, and other Republican movers and shakers.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Anyone who spends any time researching campaigns, campaign finance, and the Republican party learns right up front that nothing happens in the Republican party without a Donatelli having a hand in it somewhere. They are everywhere.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So, to have a judge who is one of <strong>thirteen private investors</strong> in a firm which is one of the primary Republican movers and shakers and which has deep,<b><font color="#ff0000"> strong connections to Citizens United, </font></b>its affiliates and its directors is no small thing. It is a very, very big thing. People who invest money in small, closely held corporations aren't the kind who call up their broker and ask what the hot stock of the day is. They know the ones they're investing in very well, probably have a round of golf or two with them from time to time, and surely have moved beyond the occasional meeting at a fundraiser or dinner party.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bottom line: Judge Henry Hudson is a well-connected player in the Republican party. Just what the party machine ordered. A well-oiled judge to smooth the way for what is a planned assault on any legislation that benefits people rather than corporations.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Good job, GOP.</p></div>