He has ordered Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department until September 24 to provide the disputed records related to convicted sex offender Epstein, or explain why his orders were not “clear and unambiguous.”
“Defendant cites no authority for the proposition that administrative inconvenience excuses him from meeting his statutory obligation,” Sullivan wrote in his opinion. “Nor does he cite any authority for his apparent contention that Congressional silence in response to the January 30, 2026 letter functions as an implied amendment to the EFTA.”
Sullivan wrote that a civil contempt finding against Blanche at this stage “would be premature” as such an order requires the defendant to have violated a “clear and unambiguous” order. Therefore, he gave the attorney general until September 21 to seek clarification with the court if any of the order was unclear.
My search yielded: “The penalty for civil contempt can include fines, compensatory damages, or even imprisonment until compliance with a court order is achieved. The specific consequences depend on the nature of the contempt and the court’s discretion.”
So it depends. Let’s see what Sullivan’s next step is, as I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest that Blanche will not comply by 9/24. The wheels of Justice grind exceedingly slow. Which paraphrase sent me on a search for the origin. As it turns it’s not a new concept. Plutarch 1st Century CE “Thus, I do not see what use there is in those mills of the gods said to grind so late as to render punishment hard to be recognized, and to make wickedness fearless.”