The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday delayed the planned release of thousands of internal police disciplinary records until a merits panel takes up an appeal from law enforcement unions, which claimed their publication would endanger officers and their families.

The ruling, from a three-judge motions panel of the Manhattan-based appeals court, came just two days after the unions argued in favor of staying a lower court’s decision allowing the documents to be released following the repeal earlier this year of New York state’s police secrecy law, known as 50-a.