Organizations that are challenging a controversial New York State law that allows police departments to keep officers’ disciplinary records from the prying eyes of open records requests have been dealt another defeat in the courts.

A panel from the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the law, Civil Rights Law 50-a, prevents attorneys from the New York City Legal Aid Society and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton for the New York City Police Department from getting their hands on records relating to misconduct allegations against officers and punishments they received via the state’s Freedom of Information Law.