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Carl Higbie was right to call attention to what’s happening with the Epstein files: federal judges have repeatedly shut down efforts to make large swaths of material public, and ordinary Americans deserve to know why so much remains hidden. This isn’t a random bureaucratic quirk — it’s a pattern of judicial gatekeeping that has frustrated victims and conservatives who want accountability.
The Department of Justice, acting on pressure from conservatives and President Trump’s team, asked courts to unseal grand jury materials and other records tied to Jeffrey Epstein, only to have judges dismiss those motions as unnecessary or premature. One judge bluntly told the DOJ that it was the “logical party” to release a trove of files but nonetheless denied the request to unseal grand jury transcripts, effectively forcing the executive branch into a corner.
These decisions did not come from the bench in a vacuum — judges in Florida and New York, including at least one Clinton appointee, have ruled against the unsealing of key records, and another federal judge rejected a bid to open Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury testimony. Republican voters and victims alike are justified in asking whether this is justice or judicial protection for the powerful.
Courts have leaned heavily on grand jury secrecy and victim-protection arguments to keep records closed, claiming release could harm witnesses or reveal sensitive details. Those are legitimate concerns, but they have been used inconsistently, leaving the public to wonder why some documents leak out while entire files remain off-limits and powerful names never face scrutiny.
Some prominent voices have bluntly accused judges of shielding elites, and that perception is poisonous to faith in our institutions; when the system looks like it’s protecting the connected instead of seeking truth, anger is the right response. Conservatives should demand both victim privacy and transparency — we can protect the vulnerable while also forcing the courts and the DOJ to stop treating secrecy as a cover for influence.
If the DOJ won’t act, Congress must use its oversight power and the American people must push harder for daylight on these files; partial document dumps are not the same as real transparency, and piecemeal releases won’t satisfy a nation that wants answers. The administration and Republican lawmakers owe it to victims and to the public to break through judicial logjams and deliver the truth instead of excuses.
