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An Oklahoma judge is defending his actions in allowing country music stars Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert to keep details of their divorce private.

The Oklahoman newspaper reports that attorneys and others had criticized Pottawatomie County Associate District Judge John Gardner after he sealed the musicians' entire divorce file.

Gardner made public a protective order on Tuesday explaining his July 6 decision. He is retiring this week.

Gardner says allowing the case to be public would have greatly compromised the personal and financial privacy of both parties. He also noted that matters in the case would have garnered "significant publicity" that most others wouldn't.

Former Oklahoma Rep. Aaron Stiles, who helped to write the law, told FOX411, "I cannot imagine a compelling privacy interest that would cause a judge to seal [all of the divorce filings]...the outright disregard for our open records law is amazing."

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He continued, "I personally don't care one way or another about Miranda Lambert or Blake Shelton -- I don't even listen to country -- the issue that I have is the fact that prominent individuals, even with the new law, are seeking out judges to seal records....That's not right."

Shelton and Lambert announced last week that they were divorcing after four years of marriage.

FOX411's Sasha Bogursky and the Associated Press contributed to this report.