type: timeline_event
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled that Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna cannot append their demand for a court-appointed special master to the Ghislaine Maxwell criminal case to force DOJ compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The judge largely agreed with the Justice Department's argument that he lacked authority to grant the request as the congressmen were not parties to Maxwell's criminal case.
Engelmayer acknowledged the lawmakers raised "undeniably important and timely" questions and "legitimate concerns" about whether DOJ was complying with the Act, but ruled the intervention method was impermissible. He suggested Khanna and Massie could file a separate lawsuit or pursue oversight through congressional tools. At the time of the ruling, DOJ had released less than 1% of the estimated 6 million pages of Epstein-related files, despite the Act's December 19, 2025 deadline.
The ruling demonstrates judicial reluctance to intervene in executive branch compliance with congressional transparency mandates, effectively leaving enforcement to congressional oversight mechanisms that lack direct coercive power over the executive branch.