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Court Rejects Ghislaine Maxwell's Constitutional Challenge to Epstein Files Transparency Act

Eugene Volokh | 8.12.2026 11:01 AM

From Judge Loretta Preska (S.D.N.Y.) in yesterday's Giuffre v. Maxwell:

On March 18, 2016, the late Judge Sweet issued a protective order … barring Plaintiff Virginia Giuffre, Defendant Ghislaine Maxwell, and their attorneys from sharing confidential discovery information produced as part of this case with any third party, including the Government. The Protective Order allowed the parties' attorneys, by designating a document as confidential, to represent that the document's contents implicated one or both of the parties' privacy interests and thus keep the document under seal unless the opposing party objected. The parties were thereafter permitted to file dozens of documents and motions largely or entirely under seal.

Paragraph 12 of the Protective Order provided that, at the conclusion of the case, all confidential documents and copies thereof were either to be returned to the party that designated it confidential or destroyed. However, Paragraph 14 of the Protective Order also provided that the "Protective Order may be modified by the Court at any time for good cause shown........

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