Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch recused himself on Wednesday from an environment case that’s slated to come before the court next week.
Gorsuch announced his recusal in a one-paragraph letter published on the court’s website. It did not explain his reasons for doing so, though it comes after a push from Democrats alleging that he had a conflict of interest.
In a letter to the conservative justice last month, 13 House Democrats called on Gorsuch to recuse himself because of his ties to billionaire Philip Anschutz, of the oil and gas company Anschutz Exploration.
Though it’s not directly involved in the case, Anschutz Exploration filed a brief with the court in September taking a stance in the case and arguing that it would be affected by the outcome.
The other eight justices will hear oral arguments in the case on Tuesday, and will later issue a ruling related to the scope of federal environmental reviews for infrastructure projects.
The justices will determine whether, in assessing a proposed project’s environmental impacts, such reviews can consider indirect impacts.
At the center of the particular case the court is hearing is the question of whether, when deciding to build a railway line to transport oil in Utah, the environmental impacts of the oil’s production and refining should be considered.
