The D.C. Circuit didn’t issue any opinions last week, which is not uncommon in the fall.

The Court did issue one order of public interest, denying the government a stay pending appeal in Phang v. Blanche, litigation about the government’s (non)compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The lawsuit was brought by a journalist who covers the Epstein story, alleging that the government’s failure to comply with the Act has impeded her reporting. The district court entered a preliminary injunction governing five categories of redactions and withholding. The stay motion focused on just one category: the order to begin reviewing and producing foreign-language documents. The government had not produced any such documents in response to the Act because “it was not practicable for a first-level reviewer to determine the responsiveness of a foreign-language document.” Based on the stay motion, the appeal is likely to focus on the government’s arguments that the Act creates no private right of action, the Act cannot be enforced through the APA, and the plaintiff lacks standing. The D.C. Circuit did not address any of those issues, but denied the stay for lack of irreparable harm. The Court reasoned that “merely initiating review of foreign-language documents” was not irreparable harm, production was not imminent, and even if it were, any production under the district court’s order would only involve documents where the government agrees they must be produced under the Act.