The Office of Court Administration should not have to release memoranda regarding guidance to judges because judicial discretion prevails, an OCA attorney told the Appellate Division, First Department during Thursday arguments over records sought by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“This is purely guidance, this panel before me is the panel that reverses or affirms a trial court,” Assistant Deputy OCA counsel Robyn Rothman told the five-judge panel. “We cannot tell a judge what to do.”