DOJ Moves to End Katie Phang’s Epstein Files Lawsuit (Part 1) (10/5/26)

This is Document 52-1 in Phang v. Blanche, filed October 1, 2026, and it is the DOJ’s Memorandum in Support of its Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. In plain terms, Todd Blanche and the Justice Department are asking Judge Emmet Sullivan to end Katie Phang’s case without further factual development because, in their view, her claims fail as a matter of law. The DOJ’s core argument is that the Epstein Files Transparency Act does not give private citizens a right to sue to enforce it. The government says Congress deliberately created reporting and oversight mechanisms involving Congress and the Federal Register, but did not create a private cause of action. It also argues that Phang lacks Article III standing because her alleged injury is no different from that of any other member of the public who wants the government to comply with the law. Her status as a journalist, and her argument that withheld or redacted Epstein material harms her reporting and professional interests, is dismissed by DOJ as too speculative to establish a concrete and particularized injury. The filing further contends that the Administrative Procedure Act cannot be used as a workaround because FOIA already provides an adequate judicial remedy for people seeking government records.

The DOJ also attacks Phang’s claims on the merits. It argues that courts may compel only agency actions that are specifically and unequivocally required by law, and says the EFTA does not require the precise actions Phang is demanding. The Department defends its redactions, saying the statute expressly permits withholding victim-identifying information and that the Privacy Act independently requires protection of certain personal information. It rejects Phang’s position that the newer Epstein statute displaced those privacy protections, arguing the two laws must be read together. The government also says the EFTA contains no specific requirement that DOJ translate, review and produce foreign-language documents, and maintains that doing so would require immense resources and falls outside any clear statutory command. Taken together, the filing is a broad attempt to knock out the case at the threshold: no private right of action, no standing, no enforceable APA claim, no unlawful redactions, no mandatory obligation to produce foreign-language material, and no viable ultra vires or Declaratory Judgment Act claim. DOJ is asking Sullivan to enter judgment for Blanche and effectively terminate Phang’s lawsuit on the pleadings.



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