A Manhattan judge declined to recuse himself from former President Donald Trump’s business records case in New York on Monday following a request by Trump’s legal team. In his decision, Judge Juan Merchan said “this Court has examined its conscience and is certain in its ability to be fair and impartial.”

Trump cited three reasons for this motion: the political and financial interests of Judge Merchan’s daughter, who works for a consulting firm that assists Democratic campaigns; Judge Merchan’s role in a previous case concerning The Trump Corporation; and Judge Merchan’s political affiliations and donations. Together, Trump alleged that these things painted a picture of a judiciary that at least had the appearance of partiality, if not outright bias.

Merchan rejected these arguments, pointing out that they relied both on speculation and the assumption that a judge could not both hold political views and conduct an impartial courtroom. In assessing whether to recuse himself, Judge Merchan turned to the federal case In re Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., which places trust in a judge’s own judgment to determine whether enough conflicts are present to require recusal:

The judge presiding over a case is in the best position to appreciate the implications of those matters alleged in a recusal motion. In deciding whether to recuse himself, the trial judge must carefully weigh the policy of promoting public conFrdence in the judiciary against the possibility that those questioning his impartiality might be seeking to avoid the adverse consequences of his presiding over their case.

The decision comes soon after Trump’s motion to move the case to federal court was denied. In this case, Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Trump faces charges in three other cases related to his role in the January 6 Capitol riot, his attempt to subvert vote counting in Georgia, and the storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.