Hello Western Woods,

The choice of words by the Judge imply that he had discretion and options in the situation. 

He did not say: "That cannot be granted because it would violate protocol".

Instead he said: "“In my view it’s not appropriate at this stage."

His actual statement implies that, over the years, for a hundred judges facing a comparable situation, some may have had this "view", "my view", some may have had other views, "their view".

In any profession involving any stepwise procedures that are mandatory, that are non-optional (judicial, medical, engineering, etc.), it would be a bit bizarre for the professional to say "in my view" before stating the rule, before stating the non-optional procedure. You would just state the procedure, as in "a doctor cannot receive hospital privileges without being licensed", you would not say "in my view...".