Attorney General Todd Blanche will face a federal judge this week after being accused of a 'calculated decision' to delay the release of Epstein files subject to a court order.
Independent journalist and attorney Katie Phang's legal team filed on Tuesday an opposition to Blanche's latest bid to freeze the case — scheduled to come to court for a hearing on Thursday.
Phang sued Blanche in April, accusing the Justice Department of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act — a 2025 law requiring the full public release of Justice Department files on convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has told Blanche to be ready to answer questions Thursday about redactions made to documents in the Epstein files that have been turned over to the court.
Sullivan also plans to ask the attorney general why the FBI has not begum to review foreign-language documents in the Epstein files that Phang has sued to obtain.
In his order scheduling Thursday’s hearing, Sullivan warned Blanche of requirements in the Epstein Act, that “[a]ll redactions must be accompanied by a written justification published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress.”
“The Defendant shall be prepared to discuss his timing for complying with this requirement,” Sullivan told Blanche.
In Phang's new filing, she claims Blanche has refused to participate in the proceedings from the beginning of her case, missing the June 26 deadline to answer Phang's complaint and never seeking an extension.
The Justice Department's own counsel had been defiant about following the judge's schedule.
"[R]equiring responsive pleadings before resolution of the preliminary relief motions would serve no purpose, given that the scope of any Answer may well be shaped by the Court's ruling," DOJ's counsel wrote, according to the filing.
Phang's team told the judge that Blanche had made a "calculated decision" — not an accident — and argued it bars the attorney general from claiming the delay was excusable, the filing states.
The admission lands on top of Blanche's broader failure to comply with a June order from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, according to CBS News.
Sullivan ordered Blanche by July 2 to unredact eight emails, produce FBI interview notes, and publish a log of every redaction in the Epstein files, as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Blanche has not produced the FBI interview notes and has not notified the court that a review of foreign-language materials has begun, the filing states.
Sullivan then ordered Blanche to submit unredacted documents for private judicial review in late July, according to the filing, to independently verify whether the redactions were legally justified.
"Defendant's assertions do not comply with the court's order, which requires documentation to support the assertions," Sullivan wrote.
"At no point has the government tried to argue that it followed the law," Phang's attorney Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, told Raw Story.
For their part, the Justice Department and Blanche have denied all wrongdoing.
"Judge Sullivan's perverse interpretation appears to be focused on driving misleading headlines," a Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News.
On August 5, Blanche filed a motion asking Sullivan to freeze all filing deadlines for 60 days — time for the Justice Department to decide whether to appeal before returning to the merits of the case.
Sullivan had already denied that same relief in June, when Blanche first requested a 60-day pause to consider an appeal, according to the filing.
Phang's team asked Sullivan to fine Blanche $1,000 a day until he fully complies with the court's orders, Raw Story reported in July.
Her lawyers also argued Blanche is technically in default — meaning Sullivan could enter judgment against him without a full trial — because Blanche never answered the complaint, the filing states.
Phang cited a ruling Sullivan himself wrote as a district judge, finding that deliberately waiting on a potential appeal is not a valid excuse for missing a deadline, according to the filing.
"[T]his is a Judge who is angered by Blanche's flagrant disregard of his orders," former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote. The two face each other in court Thursday.