Court documents in this nation are public records, available for inspection at any point. Exceptions are made to protect underage victims and perpetrators. Last year, a district court judge issued a sweeping order keeping all records relating to a lawsuit against Jeffery Epstein brought by his victims sealed out of concern for unintended damage to victims.
It IS critical to protect certain victims who do not want their names associated with the matter. However, this is generally easy to do with a giant black marker, or aliases. Today, the Second Circuit court of appeals seemed to recognize the importance of the issue, the public interest, and the ability to accommodate very real privacy concerns.
The Second Circuit ordered certain documents in the Epstein case unsealed today.
The Second Circuit vacated that decision today, with U.S. Circuit Judge Jose Cabranes waxing eloquently on behalf of a three-judge panel about how the ruling will empower journalists to inform the public about the U.S. judiciary.
“We have long noted that the press plays a vital role in ensuring the public right of access and in enhancing ‘the quality and safeguards the integrity of the fact-finding process,” the 24-page opinion states. “When faithfully observing its best traditions, the print and electronic media’ contributes to public understanding of the rule of law’ and ‘validates [its] claim of functioning as surrogates for the public.’”
Thank you, to the appellate judges who said “Enough.” Because were it not for the “soon-to-be-awarded-a-Pulitzer-prize Miami Herald and its brave reporters within, it is likely that Jeffery Epstein would be preying upon a child tonight.
Courtnews provides us with a disgusting, but necessary prelude of what is to come. Taken from a lawsuit filed by a victim, Virginia Giuffre:
. The batch of files soon to be made public come from a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre against Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, accusing the British socialite of turning her into a “sex slave.”
Giuffre has claimed that Maxwell passed her off as a minor to Prince Andrew and said that she was trafficked to Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz as an adult. Both vehemently denied the allegations.
If a member of the British royal family, and a tenured Harvard law professor specializing in criminal law (for fucksake) are both implicated, it is difficult to imagine the number of prominent child-preying-monsters left in-between. Soon, we will not have to imagine.
Sex-trafficking. Disgusting.
But, I find something even more disgusting. The U.S. attorney, one former cabinet member (Acosta), oversaw the “non-prosecution agreement” that allowed this child-predator to engage in obvious sex-trafficking and serve one year in county jail, with allowances to go to “work” during the day, and return late at night. That “deal” may prove to be more disgusting than even Epstein’s crimes, precisely because it allowed him to go on living what surely was a life of crime. (That part is speculation, though well-founded).
After all, we’ve yet to hear the number of crimes that may have been committed in the time period between then and now, and the number of victims who should never had been in Epstein’s presence.
Sorry if I ruined your dinner. But, we all ought to be thinking about how our system failed these children, and resolving to never let it happen again.
My daughter is eleven. I want her to be able to explore the world, safely, as a kid, for as long as she wants to be. The world is just slightly safer tonight, because some monsters are shaking in a corner, more afraid than her.
Good.
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Peace, y’all, try hard.
Of late, it has been an absolute pleasure to read the insights of our insightful readers in the comments section. I urge all of you to share your thoughts. None of us should ever stop learning from each other.
Jason
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here…”–William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Something else to contemplate: Epstein is merely ONE sex trafficker of underage children. There has long been and continues to be many others. And they have a buyer’s market of humans who think nothing more of abusing children than they would of eating a steak (and that’s before you get into the bastards who grow their own victims by using their own children). If Trump had never been elected president, I wonder if Epstein would have kept flying under the radar.
So…in summary, glad that Epstein and all his connections are getting exposed. But don’t think for a second that it stops with him.
I think even republicans know that Trump participated. Too many connections. I also think Putin had heard (he hears everything) and THAT is what is on the tape. It may include the disgusting other part (but who cares what consenting adults do), I suspect it involves VERY young girls bc then he truly is – in his words – “fcked” and Putin’s play toy for life.
He’s dead.
Yes, story is now up. Thank you for the reply and following along.
Jason, I am so sorry that you must fear for your daughter….you and the rest of us are living in a nightmare of epic proportions….nothing more I can add except tremendous disgust for the powers that be!
I’m glad they are unsealing these documents. We need the truth to get out before Barr gets his hands on the Epstein matter and buries as much as he can to save his pal, Don the Con. We need these scumbags out of power and locked up.