diff --git a/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/planner/SparkConnectPlanner.scala b/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/planner/SparkConnectPlanner.scala
index f8fd56f38f9b6..8aaa3a7151a28 100644
--- a/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/planner/SparkConnectPlanner.scala
+++ b/sql/connect/server/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/planner/SparkConnectPlanner.scala
@@ -2474,6 +2474,15 @@ class SparkConnectPlanner(
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Exposed for testing. Processes a command without a response observer.
+   *
+   * Called only from SparkConnectPlannerTestUtils.
+   */
+  private[planner] def processWithoutResponseObserverForTesting(command: proto.Command): Unit = {
+    process(command, new MockObserver())
+  }
+
   def process(
       command: proto.Command,
       responseObserver: StreamObserver[ExecutePlanResponse]): Unit = {
diff --git a/sql/connect/server/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/planner/SparkConnectPlannerTestUtils.scala b/sql/connect/server/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/planner/SparkConnectPlannerTestUtils.scala
index ee830c3b96729..9f6278771a8b7 100644
--- a/sql/connect/server/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/planner/SparkConnectPlannerTestUtils.scala
+++ b/sql/connect/server/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connect/planner/SparkConnectPlannerTestUtils.scala
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ object SparkConnectPlannerTestUtils {
 
   def transform(spark: SparkSession, command: proto.Command): Unit = {
     val executeHolder = buildExecutePlanHolder(spark, command)
-    new SparkConnectPlanner(executeHolder).process(command, new MockObserver())
+    new SparkConnectPlanner(executeHolder).processWithoutResponseObserverForTesting(command)
   }
 
   private def buildExecutePlanHolder(