The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge to reject an effort by two members of Congress to force outside oversight of the release of the Epstein files, arguing the lawmakers have no legal standing to intervene in the long-closed criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a sharply worded six-page letter to U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, prosecutors said Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) are improperly trying to use Maxwell’s case as a vehicle to police the DOJ’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law they championed last year.
“This is a criminal case, with two parties — the Government and defendant Ghislaine Maxwell — that is long since over,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton wrote on behalf of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Representatives Khanna and Massie do not have standing, their stated objectives are inconsistent with the role of an amicus as well as the role of the Court, and … there is no authority permitting the Court to grant the Representatives the relief they improperly seek.”
The filing marks the latest escalation in a high-profile fight over how quickly and how fully the DOJ must release millions of pages of records related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges in August 2019.
Lawmakers push for court oversight
Massie and Khanna led the bipartisan effort last year to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the DOJ to make public a broad universe of Epstein-related materials within 30 days of the law’s enactment in November 2025.
According to the lawmakers, the department missed that Dec. 19, 2025, deadline. The DOJ has opted to release the records in piecemeal tranches, citing the enormous scope of the review and the need to redact victims’ personal information.
Frustrated by what they describe as slow-walking and over-redaction, the two lawmakers asked Engelmayer last week to appoint a special master — an independent court-appointed monitor — to oversee the release process and compel additional disclosures.
“Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” Massie and Khanna wrote in their motion.
Engelmayer, who oversaw Maxwell’s 2021 trial and continues to supervise a protective order governing discovery materials in the case, had ordered the DOJ to respond to the lawmakers’ request by Friday.
DOJ: Congress can’t use Maxwell’s criminal case to enforce law
In its response, the department argued that the lawmakers’ motion is legally baseless on multiple fronts.
Prosecutors said the role of an amicus curiae — a “friend of the court” — is limited to offering neutral assistance on issues already before the court. Massie and Khanna, the DOJ wrote, are instead attempting to “create a new issue” by seeking to force compliance with a statute that was enacted after Maxwell’s conviction became final.
“Amici curiae cannot raise new issues and seek new relief,” the letter said, adding that the lawmakers are attempting to “join in the adversarial fray” despite not being parties to the case.
The DOJ also argued the pair lacks Article III standing to demand judicial enforcement of the transparency law, noting the statute does not create a private right of action and does not give individual members of Congress a personal legal interest in the records.
“An asserted informational injury that causes no adverse effects cannot satisfy Article III,” the filing said, citing Supreme Court precedent.
Even if the court wanted to act, prosecutors said, it has no authority to appoint a special master to supervise compliance with a law that contains no enforcement mechanism.
“The Act does not provide a cause of action,” the DOJ wrote. “With no standing and no cause of action, the Representatives are unable to seek the relief they request.”
Millions of pages still under review by more than 500 people
The clash comes as the DOJ continues a massive internal effort to process Epstein materials.
In a separate update this week, the DOJ sent a letter to the court noting it has more than 500 people reviewing millions of pages of documents and has added roughly 80 additional attorneys to the project.
So far, officials say they have released 12,285 documents out of more than 2 million that may fall under the transparency law.
Bondi, Blanche, and Clayton said in that statement that the department “remains focused on releasing materials under the Act promptly while protecting victim privacy,” but offered no timeline for the next batch of disclosures.
Massie has threatened to pursue “inherent contempt” proceedings against Bondi over the department’s handling of the law, though he told reporters he believes court oversight would be the fastest way to force additional releases.
DOJ SAYS 2 MILLION MORE EPSTEIN FILES ARE BEING REVIEWED
Engelmayer has not yet ruled on whether he will allow the lawmakers to participate in the case as amici or consider their request for a special master.
Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, was convicted in 2021 of helping him recruit and abuse underage girls and is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence.
