RICHMOND, Va. — The federal judge who struck down the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s health care law Monday is a George W. Bush appointee who earned the nickname “Hang ‘Em High Henry” for his tough-on- crime stand as a prosecutor and on the bench.
Among those who have felt U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson’s wrath is NFL star Michael Vick, who in 2007 received a nearly two-year sentence — and a dressing-down — for running a dogfighting ring.
Hudson rejected Vick’s plea for leniency, questioned whether the athlete was truly remorseful and chastised him for failing to apologize to children who looked up to him as a role model.
The health care ruling could make Hudson, 63, a hero to political conservatives, just as the Vick case did among animal-rights activists.
Hudson already experienced enough drama to write an autobiography two years ago, “Quest for Justice: From Deputy Sheriff to Federal Judge . . . and the Lessons Learned Along the Way.”
He served as a deputy sheriff and went to law school at American University at night. Fresh out of law school in 1974, Hudson became a state prosecutor and then a federal one. Long active in Republican politics, he was appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.
In 1986, he headed the pornography investigation by the Meese Commission.
In 1992, Hudson was director of the U.S. Marshals Service during the deadly siege by federal law enforcement agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
Bush appointed Hudson to the federal bench in 2002.
