A Manhattan federal court judge on Tuesday declined to grant a motion to reconsider his decision barring a retired priest from testifying at Rudy Giuliani’s upcoming bench trial, despite protestations from defense counsel that the clergyman would be a reliable witness.

The proposed defense witness, Monsignor Alan Placa, “answers to a higher power than this court,” attorney Joseph Cammarata told U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman of the Southern District of New York.