Who Enforces the Enforcers? DOJ’s Epstein Transparency Rebellion (1/20/26)

The Department of Justice has treated the Epstein transparency law like a suggestion, not a mandate, openly slow-walking disclosures, drip-feeding partial releases, and hiding behind bureaucratic excuses while insisting it is somehow in “substantial compliance.” What makes this moment especially brazen is that the law was designed specifically to prevent exactly this kind of stonewalling—years of selective secrecy justified by vague claims of privacy, process, or administrative burden. Instead of honoring the spirit of transparency the statute demands, DOJ leadership has effectively rebranded noncompliance as discretion, acting as though Congress merely asked nicely for records tied to one of the most consequential sex-trafficking cases in modern history. The result is a hollowed-out law that exists on paper but is functionally neutered in practice, with the DOJ deciding unilaterally what the public and lawmakers are “allowed” to see.


Even more alarming is the DOJ’s posture toward Congress itself, which amounts to a quiet but unmistakable assertion that lawmakers have no real power to compel enforcement. Through delays, narrow interpretations, and procedural defiance, the Department has sent a clear message: oversight ends where DOJ inconvenience begins. Rather than treating congressional authority as co-equal and binding, the DOJ has behaved like a sovereign entity policing itself, daring Congress to escalate while betting—correctly so far—that it won’t. This is not just institutional arrogance; it is a constitutional stress test, and the DOJ is openly testing how far it can go without consequence. In doing so, it has transformed the Epstein transparency law into a case study in how executive agencies can undermine legislation without ever formally violating it—by simply refusing to take it seriously and daring anyone to stop them.



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DOJ says congressmen seeking Epstein files should butt out of Ghislaine Maxwell case | Courthouse News Service