US v. Maxwell: Habeas Corpus Petition Denial (Jan 2026)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, -v- GHISLAINE MAXWELL, Defendant. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) OPINION & ORDER PAUL A. ENGELMAYER, District Judge: This decision resolves a motion by two United States Representatives to participate as amici curiae in this criminal case. Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are co-sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (“EFTA” or the “Act”), Pub. L. No. 119-38, 139 Stat. 656 (2025), which was enacted nearly unanimously by Congress, and signed into law, on November 19, 2025. The Act required the Attorney General, within 30 days of its enactment and subject to certain exceptions, to make publicly available “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” in the possession of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) that relate to the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In a motion filed January 13, 2026, the Representatives seek leave to participate in this case as amici curiae for the purpose of assuring DOJ’s compliance with the EFTA. Dkts. 837– 38. They assert that, in multiple respects, DOJ has violated the Act. Dkt. 838-1 (“Amici Letter Brief”) at 1–2. First, they assert, DOJ has not complied with the December 19, 2025, deadline set by the Act for the public release of responsive records. Id. at 1 (citing Act § 2(a)). They note that, by DOJ’s admission, as of January 5, 2026-more than two weeks after that deadline-it had Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 844 Filed 01/21/26 Page 1 of 7 2 publicly released only 12,285 documents, with “more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act in various phases of review.” Id. at 2 (citation omitted). Second, they assert, DOJ has not complied with a separate provision of the Act requiring the Attorney General, within 15 days of the deadline for release, to submit a report to the House and Senate