Radar Online LLC v. Federal Bureau of Investigation: Date Argued: January 28th, 2026; Docket Number: 24-1964

Case Summary:Radar Online LLC v. Federal Bureau of Investigation is a Freedom of Information Act appeal in which Radar Online LLC and journalist James Robertson challenge the FBI’s withholding of records about financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex‑trafficking investigation and prosecution in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, docket number 24‑1964, where the case was argued on January 28, 2026.At the lower‑court level, Radar Online and Robertson sued the FBI in the Southern District of New York (case No. 1:17‑cv‑03956, Judge Paul G. Gardephe), alleging that the Bureau failed to timely respond to their 2017 FOIA request for records relating to Epstein and improperly withheld documents under various FOIA exemptions. In a 2023 memorandum opinion, the district court granted the FBI’s motion for summary judgment in part and granted plaintiffs’ cross‑motion in part, upholding certain withholdings but finding the Bureau’s declarations inadequate for others and directing the agency to provide more detailed support. After the FBI submitted revised declarations, the court in June 2024 ultimately granted summary judgment to the FBI, sustaining its reliance on FOIA Exemption 7(A) and related exemptions to withhold or redact thousands of pages of Epstein‑related investigative records on the ground that disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with related law‑enforcement proceedings, and entered final judgment for the Bureau.Radar Online and Robertson then filed a civil appeal to the Second Circuit on July 23, 2024, seeking review of that final judgment in favor of the FBI, and the appeal—now captioned Radar Online LLC v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, No. 24‑1964—was argued in the present court on January 28, 2026.