GHISLAINE MAXWELL CHALLENGES RELEASE OF ADDITIONAL EPSTEIN DOCUMENTS, CITING UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAW. (PHOTO).

 Ghislaine Maxwell challenges release of additional Epstein documents, citing unconstitutional law

   Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell are seeking to block the release of 90,000 pages of documents tied to Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that a law used to make the files public is unconstitutional. The papers were filed late Friday in Manhattan federal court to prevent disclosure of records from a decade-old civil defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre against Maxwell. The Justice Department recently asked a judge to lift the secrecy surrounding the documents.

Maxwell’s attorneys claim the government obtained the files improperly during its criminal investigation. The records include transcripts from over 30 depositions and sensitive financial and sexual information involving Maxwell and others. Some documents from the original case were already made public following a federal appeals court order. Maxwell’s lawyers argue that the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed in December to force the release of millions of related documents, violates the Constitution’s separation of powers by attempting to override the judiciary’s control over its own files.

The release of Epstein-related documents in recent weeks has shed new light on his decades-long sexual abuse of women and teenage girls, though some victims’ names were revealed while abuser identities were redacted. Giuffre, who alleged Epstein trafficked her to others, including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, settled a lawsuit against him in 2022 after he denied her claims. Maxwell, 64, was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell was transferred to a low-security prison camp in Texas last summer after interviews with the Deputy Attorney General and recently declined to testify for Congress, though her lawyers said she would speak fully if granted clemency.