Our Corporate Courts -- Hightower

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.truth-out.org/our-corporate-courts67752

When corporate executives needed a political favor, they used to run to Congress. Now they can also run to the courthouse.

Over the years, corporate chieftains and their political henchmen have steadily ensconced reliable laissez-faire ideologues in hundreds of federal judgeships, quietly creating a corporate-friendly path for moving their litigation all the way from the district level through the Supreme Court.

For example, in its effort to scuttle President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, the right wing has gone court shopping. They've filed their cases in the courts of judges who are known to be ideologically hostile to government regulation of health care corporations.

Take U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in Virginia. On December 13, he ruled that a key provision of the new law is unconstitutional. His decision is at odds with 14 other federal judges who'd dismissed similar challenges. He had to resort to twisted reasoning to reach his verdict and keep the right wing's flawed case moving. But, hey--you can't let legal niceties get in the way of ideology.

More at the link --

[xchrom]

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