Republican Appointed Federal Judge Strikes Down Portion of Health Care Reform

Actually, it's not a surprise that U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson (pictured at left), a Chimperator Bush appointee, found that Congress could not order individuals to buy health insurance. You see, Hudson owns a piece of a GOP consulting firm which - surprise, surprise - has been advocating against and working for Republicans who oppose the health care reforms. Here's a brief taste from Newser:
*
According to financial disclosure forms spotted first by the Huffington Post and then Gawker, Hudson has made between $32,000 and $108,000 in dividends since 2003 from shares of Campaign Solutions, a firm that’s worked for anti-Obamacare crusaders like Michele Bachmann, John Boehner, Sarah Palin, and John McCain.
*
It gets worse: Ken Cuccinelli, the Virginia attorney general who brought the suit Hudson ruled on today, paid Campaign Solutions $9,000 for services rendered this year. But Campaign Solutions maintains that that doesn't amount to a conflict of interest because Hudson was an investor long before George W. Bush appointed him to the bench, . . .
*
Corruption and conflict of interest in Virginia? Why am I not shocked! And, of course, Ken Kookinelli" Cuccinelli, Virginia's village idiot, is rejoicing since he knows the ruling will have the fundies singing his praises when they're not busy drinking laced Kool-Aid. The Washington Post has more details on Hudson's ruling which will allow the health care reform measures to stand pending an appeal. Personally, I have always favored a public option as opposed to the forced enrollment provision that is the subject of today's ruling. Here are details from the Post story:
*
A federal judge in Virginia ruled Monday that a key provision of the nation's sweeping health-care overhaul is unconstitutional, the most significant legal setback so far for President Obama's signature domestic initiative.
*
U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson found that Congress could not order individuals to buy health insurance. In a 42-page opinion, Hudson said the provision of the law that requires most individuals to get insurance or pay a fine by 2014 is an unprecedented expansion of federal power that cannot be supported by Congress's power to regulate interstate trade.
*
Hudson is the first judge to rule that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. He said, however, that portions of the law that do not rest on the requirement that individuals obtain insurance are legal and can proceed. Hudson indicated there was no need for him to enjoin the law and halt its implementation, since the mandate does not go into effect until 2014.
*
The ruling comes in a case filed by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), who said he was defending a new state statute that made it illegal to require people to carry health insurance in Virginia.
*
The Virginia suit is one of 25 legal challenges to the federal law wending their way through the federal courts across the country. In two other lawsuits, judges sitting in Michigan and Lynchburg, Va., have found that the same provision of the law passed legal muster. A third judge in Florida is also weighing constitutionality of the individual mandate in a suit jointly filed by 20 states.
*
The statute's constitutionality will ultimately be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court.