Henry E. Hudson

As Commonwealth Attorney, Hudson led a campaign to rid Arlington County of adult bookstores, massage parlors, and other venues linked to the sale of pornography.[15] As a result of his efforts, he was named by the Reagan Administration to lead the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography (the so-called Meese Commission).[10] The Commission controversially claimed that pornography caused sex crimes, despite the contention to the contrary of social scientists.[12] Hudson said at the time that he wished the commission had taken an even stronger stand against pornography.[10]

After his service on the Meese Commission, Hudson was rewarded with an appointment as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.[12] He remained in this position until 1991, during which time he investigated drug allegations against U.S. Senator Charles Robb.[10] In 1991, Hudson ran briefly and unsuccessfully for Congress as a Republican against James P. Moran.[9]

Under President George H. W. Bush, Hudson was Director of the United States Marshals Service, a division of the United States Department of Justice, from 1992 to 1993. According to an ESPN article, "His leadership of the Marshals Service included early decisions in the attempt to arrest Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, the greatest disaster in the history of federal law enforcement, a fiasco that led to a grand jury investigation (Hudson was called to testify) and misconduct charges against 12 federal agents."[11] According to a Congressional report on the Ruby Ridge incident, "based on his desire to avoid creating discoverable documents that might be used by the defense in the Weaver/Harris trial and his understanding that the FBI would conduct a comprehensive investigation of the incident, [Hudson] decided to conduct no formal internal review of USMS activities connected with the Weaver case and the Ruby Ridge incident."[16]

Hudson was a circuit court judge on Virginia's Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court (Fairfax County, Virginia) from 1998 to 2002.

Former Republican U.S. Congressman Thomas M. Davis, who first met Hudson in 1979 when Davis was running for the county board and Hudson was running for prosecutor, called Hudson a "by-the-book guy," adding that "[h]e is not one who coddles criminals."[11] Davis also gave the following assessment of Hudson's personality and judgment:

He is a bulldog. He is not a warm puppy. Whatever Henry does, he will be criticized. But I know that what he does will be the right result. He will have the right answer.[11]

On January 23, 2002, President George W. Bush nominated Hudson to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia created by 114 Stat. 2762. The United States Senate confirmed the nomination on August 1, 2002, and Hudson received his commission on August 2, 2002. He was sworn in by Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.[11][8] He assumed senior status on June 1, 2018.

Hudson was the presiding judge for the trial of Michael Vick regarding an illegal interstate dog fighting ring that had operated over five years. On December 10, 2007, Vick was sentenced by Hudson to 23 months in prison.[17]

In December 2010, Hudson said that he was proud to see what Vick has accomplished and he told the Washington Post, "He's an example of how the system can work".[18]

In December 2010, Hudson ruled against an element of the Obama administration's health care reform law, saying that the individual mandate provision of the law exceeded Congress' powers under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.[19] Hudson's opinion stressed the unprecedented nature of the mandate:

Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal circuit court of appeals has extended Commerce Clause powers to compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market ... At its core, the dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance—or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage—it's about an individual's right to choose to participate.[20]

Hudson was the first judge to rule against the healthcare law passed during the Obama administration.[19] He was later reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

On March 1, 2018, President Trump nominated Hudson to serve as Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission, a seven-member independent body that sets federal sentencing guidelines. Hudson's nomination was sent to the United States Senate.[21] On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.[22] On August 12, 2020, President Donald Trump announced his intent to renominate Hudson to serve as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission.[23]