The Supreme Court revealed on Wednesday that Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal to her sex trafficking conviction will be among the many cases the high court reviews at a closed-door conference in September.
The Supreme Court posted a brief notice indicating it plans to examine a petition from Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and associate, on Sept. 29, marking the first time the justices will have her case before them. The public could learn whether the high court plans to review Maxwell’s case within days or weeks of that date.
If the Supreme Court were to deny Maxwell’s petition, she would have no appeal options left. If the high court were to grant it, that means it would review Maxwell’s arguments that she was improperly prosecuted.
Maxwell was convicted by a jury in New York in 2021 of five counts involving sex trafficking of a minor and conspiracy and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
She appealed her conviction, arguing it should be tossed out because a plea deal Epstein reached with the federal government in 2007 immunized her and statutes of limitations for her actions had lapsed.
Maxwell’s case has reentered the spotlight in recent weeks after the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI revealed that they had reviewed Epstein’s case files and found no further information that they could release to the public. The DOJ and FBI also said they uncovered no further evidence that would allow them to bring investigative action against figures who may have been associated with Epstein, a wealthy financier and registered sex offender who died in 2019 while in prison awaiting trial.
However, the administration faced intense blowback from MAGA supporters who felt Trump appointees, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, were reneging on promises to unveil revelatory information about Epstein’s case.
Trump, who was among the many prominent figures who once socialized with Epstein, said the topic was ‘sordid’ but ‘boring’ and dismissed questions about it. However, in the face of building pressure, the president demanded the DOJ take more action to release files.
The Supreme Court signaling that it will review Maxwell’s case comes at a delicate moment.
After Trump’s demands, the department asked the court to release a limited and redacted batch of documents from the grand juries’ indictments of Epstein and Maxwell. Then, DOJ Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is serving her prison sentence, and questioned her for two days.
Blanche’s motives for the meeting remain unclear.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, told reporters after the meeting that it marked the ‘first opportunity she’s ever been given to answer questions about what happened.’ She answered questions about ‘maybe about a hundred different people, and she didn’t hold anything back,’ Markus said. He said they had not ‘yet’ approached Trump about clemency. The president recently said, when asked by a reporter about the matter, that he is ‘allowed’ to give Maxwell a pardon but that he had not considered it at this stage.
The House Oversight Committee has also moved to pull back the curtain on Epstein’s case by subpoenaing Maxwell to testify before the panel.
Maxwell’s attorney responded by saying she would need full immunity to testify and that she wanted to wait until after the Supreme Court responded to her petition.