Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Katie Phang And Her Opposition To Todd Blanche Motion For A Stay (Part 1) (9/22/26)

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Katie Phang And Her Opposition To Todd Blanche Motion For A Stay (Part 1) (9/22/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to start taking
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  Speaker 1: a look at Katie Fang's response to Todd Blanche and
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  Speaker 1: his attempt to sway the court into giving him a
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  Speaker 1: stay of the proceedings that have been filed against him.
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  Speaker 1: Katie Fang, plaintiff, versus Todd Blanche in his official capacity
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  Speaker 1: as Attorney General of the United States. Case number 26-1417.
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  Speaker 1: plaintiff's opposition to defendant's motion for a partial stay. Introduction.
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  Speaker 1: With less than 72 hours notice, defendant attorney general Blanche
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  Speaker 1: asked the court to stay his deadline to comply with
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  Speaker 1: the obligations that defendant has already flouted for nearly three months.
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  Speaker 1: On June 25th, the court granted plaintiff Katie Fang's May
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  Speaker 1: preliminary injunction motion and ordered defendant to initiate review and
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  Speaker 1: production of foreign language material that may be subject to
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  Speaker 1: production under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and provide notice
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  Speaker 1: to the court and all parties that such review is underway.
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  Speaker 1: ECF number 15, at 2. Defendant conceded, by his silence,
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  Speaker 1: that foreign language documents are not exempt from the Epstein
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  Speaker 1: Files Transparency Act disclosure mandate. But defendant ignored that deadline,
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  Speaker 1: leaving the court with no choice but to issue a
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  Speaker 1: follow-up enforcement order last week mandating compliance by September 24th.
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  Speaker 1: Defendant now seeks a stay pending appeal of the pertinent
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  Speaker 1: portion of that enforcement order. Notably, he did not seek
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  Speaker 1: any stay pending appeal of the prelim injunction order, the
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  Speaker 1: order that actually imposed the obligation defendant now seeks to stay.
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  Speaker 1: Although he requested that stay after a close of business
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  Speaker 1: on Friday night, defendant nevertheless demands a ruling from the
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  Speaker 1: court before a close of business on Monday. Defendant's litigation
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  Speaker 1: conduct is irregular and his request for a stay should
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  Speaker 1: be denied on four independent grounds. First, Local Rule 7M
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  Speaker 1: requires that a party make a good faith effort to
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  Speaker 1: confer before filing a non-dispositive motion. Yet defendant never sought
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  Speaker 1: to confer here, which by itself warrants denying the motion. Second,
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  Speaker 1: the defendant seeks to stay the enforcement order pending appeal,
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  Speaker 1: not the underlying PI order, but the pertinent aspect of
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  Speaker 1: the enforcement order cannot be immediately appealed under U.S. Code 28,
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  Speaker 1: Section 1291A1. And so a stay pending that improper appeal
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  Speaker 1: should not be denied. Third, defendant's request for a stay
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  Speaker 1: of obligations he incurred three months ago is untimely and inappropriate.
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  Speaker 1: And fourth, defendant's arguments fail to clear the high bar
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  Speaker 1: required to obtain the extraordinary remedy of stay of pending appeal.
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  Speaker 1: Cuomo v. U.S. Nuclear Regulations Committee D.C. Circuit, 1985. Argument 1.
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  Speaker 1: Defendant's failure to confer with plaintiff alone warrants denying the
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  Speaker 1: request for a stay. Local Civil Rule 7M requires that
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  Speaker 1: before filing any non-dispositive motion, counsel shall confer with opposing
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  Speaker 1: counsel in a good faith effort to determine whether there
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  Speaker 1: is any opposition to the relief sought, and if there is,
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  Speaker 1: to narrow the areas of disagreement. When filing such a motion,
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  Speaker 1: the filing party shall include in its motion a statement
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  Speaker 1: that the required discussion occurred and a statement as to
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  Speaker 1: whether the motion is opposed. If a party files a
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  Speaker 1: non-dispositive motion without certifying its compliance with Rule 7M, the
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  Speaker 1: motion will be denied. Defendant failed to confer with plaintiff
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  Speaker 1: or otherwise provide any notice that a motion for stay
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  Speaker 1: was forthcoming. Instead, he filed the motion at 8.46 p.m.
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  Speaker 1: on Friday, September 18, 2026, and demanded a ruling from
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  Speaker 1: the court by 5 p.m. on Monday, September 21, 2026.
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  Speaker 1: While occasional procedural missteps are inevitable in civil litigation, defendant
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  Speaker 1: is the Attorney General of the United States. His disregard
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  Speaker 1: for local rules and professional norms was particularly inappropriate here.
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  Speaker 1: The Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which two of Plaintiff's
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  Speaker 1: three counsel intended to observe, is this Sunday and Monday.
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  Speaker 1: Under settled precedent, defendant's violation of Local Rule 7 by
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  Speaker 1: itself suffices to justify denying his motion. 2. Enforcement order
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  Speaker 1: cannot be stayed pending appeal because that order is not
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  Speaker 1: immediately appealable. Defendant moves to stay this court September 16th,
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  Speaker 1: enforcement order pending appeal, ECF No. 46-1 at 1. but
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  Speaker 1: notably does not move to stay the underlying June 25th
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  Speaker 1: PI order. Defendant's motion accordingly fails, as the relevant section
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  Speaker 1: of the enforcement order is not immediately appealable. An order
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  Speaker 1: issuing a prelim injunction is immediately appealable under U.S. Code 28,
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  Speaker 1: Section 1291A1, but subsequent orders enforcing a prelim injunction are
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  Speaker 1: not immediately appealable, and the court should not issue a
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  Speaker 1: stay pending a jurisdictionally Deficient Appeal. AIDS Vaccine Advocate Coalition v. U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Department of State, D.C. Circuit 2025. Granting Appealee's motion to
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  Speaker 1: dismiss the government's appeal of a district court order enforcing
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  Speaker 1: a temporary restraining order and denying the government's motion to
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  Speaker 1: stay the enforcement order as moot. In this circuit, a
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  Speaker 1: subsequent order relating to a prelim injunction is appealable only
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  Speaker 1: where it actually changes the legal relationship of the parties.
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  Speaker 1: Washington Metro Area Transit v. Reliable Limousine Service, quoting U.S. v.
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  Speaker 1: Philip Morris, 2012. In determining whether a subsequent order actually
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  Speaker 1: changes the legal relationship of the parties, the critical inquiry
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  Speaker 1: is whether the party challenging the order was already bound
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  Speaker 1: by the injunction. Here, the September 16th enforcement order did
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  Speaker 1: not change the legal relationship between the parties with respect
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  Speaker 1: to the DOJ's obligation to review and produce foreign language documents.
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  Speaker 1: The operative foreign language direction in the enforcement order is
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  Speaker 1: identical to that in the original PI order, save for
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  Speaker 1: a change in dates. Compare PI order ECF number 15
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  Speaker 1: at 2 with enforcement order ECF number 43 at 19. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: the enforcement order did not change the legal relationship between
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  Speaker 1: plaintiff and defendant. All it did was confirm that the
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  Speaker 1: court meant when it said back in June and expected
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  Speaker 1: prompt compliance. The Attorney General argues that the original PI
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  Speaker 1: order was inconclusive because it contemplated the defendant could show
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  Speaker 1: cause as to at least four categories of relief and
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  Speaker 1: did not otherwise provide a date certain by which he
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  Speaker 1: had to provide notice immediately. that his review of the
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  Speaker 1: foreign language material was underway. Motion at 3 and 4.
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  Speaker 1: But the PI order did not invite defendant to show
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  Speaker 1: cause with respect to the review of the foreign language document.
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  Speaker 1: To the contrary, it categorically commanded defendant to begin such
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  Speaker 1: review and provided notice thereof, and contrary to defendant's assertions,
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  Speaker 1: it plainly included a date certain July 2nd. That defendant
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  Speaker 1: elected to disregard the court's unambiguous command does not render
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  Speaker 1: that command inconclusive. In sum, the relevant aspect of the
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  Speaker 1: enforcement order did not change the legal relationship between the
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  Speaker 1: parties and is not immediately appealable. Because it's not appealable,
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  Speaker 1: defendant's request for a stay pending appeal is inappropriate and
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  Speaker 1: should be denied. 3. Defendant's request for a stay is
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  Speaker 1: egregiously late. Even if defendant could immediately appeal the enforcement order,
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  Speaker 1: which he cannot, defendant stay motion, which comes nearly three
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  Speaker 1: months after he first incurred the obligation at issue, is
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  Speaker 1: gravely untimely. His delay provides an independent basis to deny
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  Speaker 1: the request for a stay as courts in this district
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  Speaker 1: have long understood. This court issued its PI order on
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  Speaker 1: June 25th, 2026. which unambiguously imposed the obligation defendant now
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  Speaker 1: seeks to stay. Defendant did not immediately appeal the PI
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  Speaker 1: order and defendant has not sought a stay in connection
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  Speaker 1: with the PI order. Instead, defendant filed the instant motion
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  Speaker 1: 85 days later and 25 days after his first notice
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  Speaker 1: of appeal. The Supreme Court has found that a 7-day,
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  Speaker 1: 49-day delay in filing a motion for a stay to
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  Speaker 1: be reason to deny such a motion. Ruckelhaus said, v.
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  Speaker 1: Monsanto Corporation, 1983. See also Beam v. Friends of the Earth, 1977.
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  Speaker 1: Denying motion for a stay after a 20-day delay over
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  Speaker 1: more than a month has passed here, rendering defendant's belated
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  Speaker 1: motion time-barred. Moreover, defendant previously sought to stay another part
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  Speaker 1: of this court's PI order, the requirement to produce documents
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  Speaker 1: for camera review, nearly a month ago, on August 27th,
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  Speaker 1: He could have moved to stay the foreign language document
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  Speaker 1: requirement at issue then, but chose not to. His deliberate
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  Speaker 1: delay there should not be excused. Defendant's delay also diffuses
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  Speaker 1: his unconvincing claim to face impending irreparable harm. The party
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  Speaker 1: requesting a stay bears the burden. And self-imposed costs are
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  Speaker 1: not improperly the subject of inquiry on a motion for stay,
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  Speaker 1: Cuomo v. NRC, 1985. To the extent that the attorney's
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  Speaker 1: General now faces an imminent burden to comply with the
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  Speaker 1: law and lacks adequate time to appeal, he has only
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  Speaker 1: himself to blame. See Open, Top Sightseeing USA v. Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Sightseeing LLC, DDC 2014. An unexcused delay in seeking extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: injunctive relief implies a lack of urgency and irreparable harm.
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  Speaker 1: Milan Farms Inc. v. Shalala, D.C. 2000, noting that the
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  Speaker 1: delay of two months in seeking injunctive relief militates against
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  Speaker 1: a finding of irreparable harm. 4. Defendant is improperly attempting
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  Speaker 1: to expand the record on appeal. Stepping back from the
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  Speaker 1: individual reasons why defendant's motion should fail, it's important to
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  Speaker 1: understand what the Attorney General appears to be trying to
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  Speaker 1: do here. Defendant has filed two notices of appeal, one
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  Speaker 1: for this court's PI order, and now one for this
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  Speaker 1: court's enforcement order. The record on the first appeal will
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  Speaker 1: be limited to the briefing leading up to the PI order.
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  Speaker 1: The second appeal, if we're allowed to proceed, would be
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  Speaker 1: limited to the issue of whether the court properly enforced
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  Speaker 1: the PI order, and the record would include subsequent briefing.
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  Speaker 1: The defendant is clearly unsatisfied with his briefing leading up
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  Speaker 1: to the initial PI order because he keeps filing new
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  Speaker 1: motions and raising new arguments, seemingly as they occur, to him. Clearly,
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  Speaker 1: defendant wishes he had not forfeited various arguments, but his strategy,
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  Speaker 1: if permitted, would prevent lawsuits from ever resolving conclusively. See
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  Speaker 1: Cochran v. Quest Software, 2003. Litigants normally must frame the
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  Speaker 1: issues in a case before the trial court rules. After
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  Speaker 1: that point, a litigant should not be allowed to switch
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  Speaker 1: from theory to theory like a bee in search of honey.
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  Speaker 1: Against this backdrop, the district court scarcely can be said
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  Speaker 1: to have abused its discretion in refusing to reconsider its
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  Speaker 1: decision based on the plaintiff's newly raised argument. That is
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  Speaker 1: exactly why courts narrowly construe U.S. Code 28, Section 1292A1, narrowly,
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  Speaker 1: lest we turn the barrier against piecemeal appeals into Swiss cheese.
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  Speaker 1: Washington Metro Area Transit, 776 F. 3D at 9. The Attorney
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  Speaker 1: General is a sophisticated litigant. He should not be permitted
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  Speaker 1: to appeal an unappealable enforcement simply to shoehorn in arguments
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  Speaker 1: he should have made when he had the chance. All right, folks,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to wrap up right here. And in the
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  Speaker 1: next episode, we're going to pick up with Section 5.
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  Speaker 1: All the information that goes with this episode can be
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  Speaker 1: found in the description box.