2 weeks Ago
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch announced Wednesday that he will recuse himself from a case dealing with a western railway line after Democratic lawmakers called attention to the fact that a longtime ally of his could benefit from the court’s decision. The court’s clerk notified attorneys in the case in a letter that, in light of the Supreme Court’s recently approved code of conduct, Gorsuch would recuse in the case set for oral argument Tuesday. The letter did not elaborate on Gorsuch’s thinking.
But the decision from the conservative Trump nominee comes weeks after a letter from Democrats on Capitol Hill argued that Denver-based billionaire Philip Anschutz – a longtime ally of Gorsuch – has a possible financial interest in the outcome of the case. The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for further information about Gorsuch’s decision. At issue in the case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v.
Eagle County, Colorado, is an 88-mile railway line connecting parts of Utah to Colorado. The line would be used to transport waxy crude oil to refineries. The legal question deals with the extent of the environmental review of that project by the US Surface Transportation Board.
Anschutz owns an oil and gas company in Denver and filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case supporting more limited environmental reviews. Critics have noted that Gorsuch served as an attorney for Anschutz. During his confirmation hearing in 2017, Democrats called attention to a Denver Post report at the time that Anschutz had lobbied the White House on Gorsuch’s behalf for a judgeship on the Denver-based 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The connections prompted Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat and member of the House Judiciary Committee, to write a letter to Gorsuch last month seeking his recusal in the case. “Our nation’s highest court should hold itself to the highest ethical standards,” Johnson and other Democrats wrote.
“To show the American people that the Supreme Court is impartial, you must recuse yourself from any case that directly impacts the financial fortunes of Philip Anschutz, the man who was your previous legal client.”.
