Dem
47
GOP
53
Longstanding tradition holds that Jeffrey Epstein news always goes first, even if the news is pretty minor, so here goes. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, a Bill Clinton appointee who is overseeing the Epstein case in New York, refused to unseal the Epstein grand jury transcripts.
Berman is the third federal judge to refuse to release the grand jury transcripts. Last week, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, a Barack Obama appointee, who is overseeing Ghislaine Maxwell's case in New York, also ruled that there was no compelling reason to break the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings. Before that, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in Florida, also an Obama appointee, refused to release the transcripts. In baseball, three strikes and you are out. In court, you can keep trying forever, it seems, but in each new case, the judge sees all the previous refusals, and the more there are going in one direction, the more the judge is likely to come to the same conclusion. Why haven't they tried the northern district of Texas? That's a surefire winner. The DoJ hasn't appealed any of the rulings yet, but could still do so. (V)