A Florida court rejected the Trump Justice Department's attempt to release to the public the grand jury court documents that investigated and criminally charged the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2019.
Federal Judge Robin L. Rosenberg, who was nominated to her position by former President Barack Obama, issued a 12-page opinion arguing that she doesn't have the legal authority to disclose these documents under grand jury secrecy.
The reasons for this ruling
"For the reasons set forth below, the law of the Eleventh Circuit [higher court] doesn't allow this court to grant the Government's request; the court's hands are tied, a point the Government itself acknowledges," the judge stated in her ruling.
According to Rosenberg, government prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to lift the grand jury secrecy that applies to these court records protected by rules that "emphasize the presumption of confidentiality."
This decision means that the files related to the Epstein case that are in the possession of this court will remain under lock and key. The Justice Department has already moved to have two other courts in the country that also investigated the financier declassify the documents they possess.
