General Discussion

is that the Court likely will side with the administration and deny cert. The administration's argument is that while Maxwell focuses on a split in the circuits on whether a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in one district is binding with respect to every other district. If so, she argues, then she shouldn't have been prosecuted in New York. The government's response is that the court doesn't need to address split in the circuit's on the question Maxwell presents because the agreement was not intended by the parties -- the US Attorney's Office and Epstein -- to be enforceable nationwide. Indeed, as the government points out, the agreement states in part that it is only enforceable with respect to Epstein "in this district" and, in fact, Epstein was subsequently prosecuted in a different district.

Under the circumstances, the Court may conclude that this isn't a good case for resolving the alleged circuit split and thus will deny cert. But I could be wrong about that. However, if I am, and the Court grants cert, it doesn't mean Maxwell wins. The Court not infrequently grants cert to review an appellate decision and then affirms that decision.