Judge Who Nixed Health Care Owns Stake in GOP Firm

Surprise! Henry Hudson, the federal judge who ruled health care reform unconstitutional today owns as much as $50,000 worth of stock in a GOP political consulting firm that opposes health care reform. 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, and has no knowledge of the firm's day-to-day affairs. (More Henry Hudson stories.)