I am back at the Starbucks in Sainsbury. It is sadly not where I had intended to go this morning, however as I went to get a flu and a covid vaccination at the chemist, Starbucks was the closest venue I could go to to let the vaccines settle and the slight soreness subside. It is now 11:52 am so not far off the lunchtime crowd coming to fetch their coffees and sandwiches. Not a great deal to choose from, but still…
The internet here is actually quite slow, but not really that necessary. In any event, when it comes to slow, Todd Blanch, the Attorney General at the United States’ Department of Justice, takes the prize. I am not sure how familiar the British public, and for that matter the American public, is with Ms Katie Phang’s lawsuit against the DOJ for its violations of the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed into law by President and convicted felon Donald Trump on the 19th November 2025.
The wikipedia entry reads, inter alia:
“In April 2026, investigative journalist and legal analyst Katie Phang filed a lawsuit against Todd Blanche, who had become Acting Attorney General after the dismissal of Pam Bondi. The lawsuit accused Blanche of failing to comply with the law by missing legal deadlines for disclosure of the files, making improper redactions, failing to explain redactions, and withholding key documents. The filing specifically references withheld, retracted, or redacted documents referring to President Trump.
The lawsuit asked the court to declare Blanche in violation of the new law, order the release of all required documents without unlawful redactions, and provide an explanation for any remaining redactions. Phang also requested that the court appoint an independent special master to oversee compliance.[13] The case was assigned to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the D.C. District Court.”
In the early stages of the civil procedure, due to lack of care and attention by the DOJ the following took place:
“On June 25, Judge Sullivan granted the injunction, giving the Department of Justice until July 1 to either turn over the documents without redactions or to explain why the redactions should not be removed.[18] In his opinion, the judge wrote that by not responding to Phang's arguments, "The Attorney General has conceded that he is in violation of the Act.”
And so it goes on. It is worth searching on YouTube for Katie Phang’s updates on the progress of the case. It is clear that the Attorney General of the United States is not only a fool, but a very bad lawyer. His underlings are not very bright either. One would have thought the office of the Department of Justice of the United States of America would be headed and staffed by the brightest and top legal experts in the country, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Constitutional Law, Federal Law, State Laws, civil and criminal procedure and everything related to legal matters concerning the United States of America. Sadly the appears not to be the case. One would have thought this Department, meant to be an independent organisation and therefore part of the checks and balances of the US constitutional system of government, was indeed just that. It is clearly not. How often have we heard Todd Blanche’s ‘slip of the tongue’ saying he was Donald Trumps’s attorney, as opposed to saying he is Attorney for the United States?
Convicted felon Donald Trump treats the DOJ as his own personal law firm. His relationship with Todd Blanche has not changed since Blanche was his lawyer. Blanche behaves in the same lickspittle manner. It is as if he has lost every ethical and professional bone in his body. He was a registered Democrat up until 2024 and since then identifies as Republican. He has a BA from the American University and a JD from the Brooklyn Law School. The American University was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church as a national Methodist Institution. It currently ranks at number 95 among National Universities and Brooklyn Law School ranks at no:105 among US Best Law Schools, according to US News and World Report. So not top of the range. His predecessor Pam Bondi got her BA at the University of Florida which is ranked at no.8 nationally and her JD from Stetson University whose law program is ranked at no.99. Again not very high as regards law schools. Indeed prior to these two the majority of Attorney Generals are from Harvard,Yale, Chicago and Columbia University Law schools which have ranked over the years in the top 3 Law Schools. That says everything you need to know about the calibre of convicted felon Donald Trump's choice of attorney. He will avoid anyone who might actually have an ethical approach to the job and value the independence of the office of Attorney General of the United States. The last Attorney for Trump, who acted with honesty was William Barr, who had also been Attorney General during the George H.W. Bush administration.
It does not mean that just because one went to a lower ranking law school that one is a lower ranking lawyer. I am sure that there are many excellent attorneys from very inferior establishments, or even self taught or studied by correspondence. Indeed, a Harvard or Yale degree is no guarantee of excellence. What the real indicator is, is the performance, and so far it has been more than somewhat dismal.
In any event, I do wish Katie Phang well. She went to Yale, and got her Law Degree from the University of Miami Law school which is ranked at no.70. Clearly not the top, but she, on the other hand is clearly someone who understands the law and is good at it; however, her BA degree from Yale was in Political Science. She is mainly a commentator and legal analyst, but she knows her stuff. I will follow the progress of her case with interest.
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