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A United States federal judge on Thursday, June 25, ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to either release unredacted versions of key documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, or provide a legal justification for keeping them blacked out, in a sharp rebuke to the DOJ’s handling of records that have been at the centre of public scrutiny for months.

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave the government until July 2 to comply with the order.

The documents in question include eight emails in which either the sender or recipient has been redacted, a draft indictment of Epstein with the names of potential co-conspirators obscured, and a 2019 email that references several unnamed individuals. 

Sullivan also ordered the DOJ to release interview notes behind FBI documents summarising unverified allegations against President Donald Trump or explain why those too cannot be made public.

The government was additionally directed to release a log listing every redaction it has made across the files it has published, a requirement mandated under federal law.

The Epstein case

Epstein, a wealthy American financier with connections to powerful political and business figures across the world, was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges involving minors. He died in a New York jail that same year in what authorities ruled a suicide, though the circumstances of his death have been disputed and remain a subject of public debate.

Following a federal law mandating disclosure, millions of records from investigations into Epstein have been made public since December, including photographs, emails and law enforcement documents. However, the DOJ has said only around half of the approximately six million pages it holds would be released. 

Many documents that have been published carry heavy redactions, and the department has argued that unreleased material either duplicates existing records, is unrelated to Epstein, or falls under legal privilege.

The lawsuit

Thursday’s order arose from a lawsuit filed in April by independent American journalist and legal commentator Katie Phang, who accused Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche of improperly redacting documents in what her legal team called a “brazen, shocking, and ongoing violation” of federal disclosure law.

The DOJ had argued Phang had no right to sue and that she should instead file requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Her lawyers countered by pointing to instances where such requests had already been denied. After the DOJ missed a court-set deadline of 1 pm on Thursday to respond, Judge Sullivan issued the order.

In a 48-page opinion, Sullivan concluded that Phang had the right to pursue the lawsuit and was likely to prevail, adding that FOIA did not provide an adequate remedy. He also rejected the DOJ’s request to pause the order for at least seven days to allow time for a potential appeal.

‘Torture video’ email

Among the documents covered by the order is an email in which Epstein references a “torture video” – a message that drew scrutiny after two US lawmakers, one Democrat and one Republican, publicly questioned why the recipient’s name had been blacked out. Acting Attorney General Blanche subsequently suggested on social media that the recipient was Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, former chief executive of Dubai-based logistics firm DP World.

Phang’s attorney Brendan Ballou said after the ruling, “The government thought that it could ignore its own law and blow off a judge’s order, all for the sake of protecting the very powerful and the very rich. It didn’t work, and now the public will finally get transparency around Jeffrey Epstein and his network.”