“Signs Point To ‘No’ “

 The federal review that discarded Epstein’s plea deal in Florida ten years after the fact and led to his arrest in new charges in SDNY, versus SDFL, (which is due for a very bad reputation) is somewhat relevant again.

Todd Blanche sought to get grand jury docs unsealed. The judges on that request had to remind Blanche that:

The victims have been included in the proceeding today both because of their relevant experiences and because they should always be involved before rather than after the fact.

That’s precisely why the court threw out the plea agreement in 2019: because the victims were not involved in negotiations of the deal. One seldom sees irony on such clear display outside of literature.

Now Blanche has to start again. How hard he will bother, is the question.

There was a separate ruling today in SDFL, where the Court ruled, in no small part, that the government asked for an exception to the rule against disclosure of grand jury transcripts (FRCP 6) recognized only in the 2nd and 7th Circuits. SDFL is in the 11th Circuit, which has specifically rejected the exception requested. The DOJ explicitly knew that (they said so in their briefs) but seem to have figured “Oh, well, what the hell?”

I don’t expect an appeal to be forthcoming.