text: Judge Strikes Down Campaign Finance Rules U.S. District Judge Kollar-Kotelly, the same judge who threw out the Microsoft break-up ruling, and backed the feds in the Gitmo case, issued a 157-page ruling today which rejects 15 of the 19 federal rules implementing the two year old US campaign finance law. While the ruling does not affect the law's key prohibition against large donations to political parties (known as "soft money") it does seem to create some uncertainty for political fund-raising, with only six weeks to go until the elections.