The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Thursday barred an amicus brief on behalf of more than 100 companies in a closely watched Trump administration immigration case, after concluding the filing would have caused one of the court’s 15 judges to sit on the sidelines for an upcoming hearing.

The law firm McDermott Will & Emery had filed the brief earlier this year on behalf of 104 businesses and organizations that were backing a challenge to the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule. The administration’s new definition of a “public charge”—a person who receives 12 months of benefits in a three-year window—would hinder admissibility of certain immigrants, critics assert.