He passed the audition, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, conflicted as he is between his criminal client and the nation he would putatively serve, awaits his confirmation hearing to replace the fired Pam Bondi who failed to successfully indict and prosecute Trump’s enemies. But then, it would ordinarily be expected that the auditioning attorney general would comply with the law. When it came to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Blanche just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“The Attorney General does not respond substantively to any of these arguments,” Sullivan, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, wrote in the opinion. “The Attorney General has conceded that he is in violation of the Act.”

In his ruling, Judge Emmet Sullivan recognizes what’s been obvious since at least last February, even though the law requires disclosure as of December 19, 2025, that Blanch both failed to redact victim identifying information, opening Epstein’s victims to attack, and buried disclosure relating to Trump and other Epstein pals, some of whom joined in his rape and subjugation of teenaged girls.

Records subject to Sullivan’s order include notes of FBI interviews with a woman who has alleged that in the 1980s, when she was about 13, Epstein introduced her to Trump, who in turn assaulted her.

It also covers the identities of email correspondents with Epstein in eight exchanges regarding a “torture video” and sexual activity with minors; the names of co-defendants in a draft  indictment, as well as the identities of potential co-conspirators and the identities of Department of Justice officials who exchanged messages about them; and “foreign language” materials that DOJ said that reviewers lacked the skills to translate and assess for potential redactions.

Given the overwhelming volume of unlawful, corrupt and unconstitutional actions taken by the Trump administration, it’s understandable that the Epstein disclosures have been moved to the back burner, or even off the stove entirely. Indeed, it largely goes unnoticed that the Trump administration is still engaging in high seas murder of people boats alleged to be carrying drugs, now over the 200 murders mark.

As Vice President and Nixon admirer JD Vance notes, if Watergate happened today, it would at most be a 10-hour story before some other country was invaded, people murdered, public funds squandered on the vanity project of the moment, or some bizarre nefarious lie was propounded to pretend the 250th Anniversary of America was all about how much we love Donald Trump.

The DoJ took the position that the plaintiff, Katie Phang, lacked standing to sue as the Epstein Act provided for no private cause of action, meaning that there was a law that was essentially unenforceable and could be ignored with impunity, aside from the occasional congressional hearing harangue. Judge Sullivan rejected the argument.

Justice Department attorneys argued that Phang’s lawsuit was improper because the Epstein Files Transparency Act includes no language authorizing private suits to enforce its provisions. But Sullivan said a broad federal law requiring agencies to comply with federal statutes, the Administrative Procedure Act, gave Phang the power to sue.

The court also gave Blanche the opportunity to explain his failure to comply, to which he responded with vapid, generic excuses that wholly failed to provide any substantive explanation for his massive failures.

Sullivan also noted that the Justice Department failed to meet a deadline of 1 p.m. Thursday to further explain how it has handled Freedom of Information Act requests for Epstein-related files.

As if to prove Judge Sullivan’s point, the DoJ went down the ad hominem path rather than offer any substantive rebuttal.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said Blanche “has not conceded anything.”

“Judge Sullivan’s perverse interpretation appears to be focused on driving misleading headlines. This judge is suggesting DOJ violate the law by un-redacting victim names, who as the Department has always explained, sadly became co-conspirators. DOJ has produced all responsive documents and will appeal this decision with confidence,” the spokesperson said.

Shocking fails to capture the claim that while Blanche actively concealed the identities of Trump and the friends he didn’t want embarrassed, he argues that the victims were “sadly co-conspirators” and there identities were properly revealed.

When Blanche goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July for his confirmation hearing, it’s expected that the focus will be on his $1.776 billion Anti=Weaponization Fund settlement, which he now claims is dead but refuses to put into writing in language that would cover all variations of the scheme rather than the limited claim only as to this specific “fund.”

The Epstein Files failures are old news these days. While they may well be raised, and certainly Bondi has done her part to shed any responsibility on her part and throw Blanche under the bus, it’s dubious whether anyone on the Republican side of the committee will demonstrate the integrity of rejecting Blanche for Attorney General. But the same Epstein files that were once a core grievance of the MAGA faithful remain every bit as salient now as they were then. And Blanche, the man who wants to be Attorney General, violated with the law.