The House of Representatives voted 427–1 this week to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a sweeping bipartisan effort to force the Department of Justice to release all unclassified files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The lone vote against the bill came from Rep. Clay Higgins (R–LA), a decision that immediately drew national attention.
Higgins, who has represented Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District since 2017, is a former law-enforcement officer, U.S. Army veteran, and one of the chamber's most conservative members. Known for his tough-on-crime persona and affiliation with the House Freedom Caucus, he gained early notoriety as a sheriff's deputy producing aggressive "Crime Stoppers" videos that earned him the nickname "Cajun John Wayne."
Despite his no vote, Higgins has played a prominent role in the congressional investigation into Epstein. He chairs the House Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement and has publicly supported a full-scale inquiry into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, spearheading efforts to demand records from the Justice Department.
But Higgins has repeatedly warned that broad disclosure of investigative material could harm people who were never accused of wrongdoing. In a statement explaining his vote, he argued that the bill "abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure" and risks exposing "thousands of innocent people — witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc." He said releasing raw files to what he called a "rabid media" could cause irreversible damage to private individuals.
Higgins indicated he could support an amended version of the bill if the Senate adds stronger privacy protections for victims and other individuals named in the records. "If the Senate amends the bill ... to properly address privacy of victims and other Americans ... then I will vote for that bill when it comes back to the House," he said.
His solitary dissent stands out not only for its rarity in a vote that united conservatives and progressives alike, but also because it appears at odds with his prominent role in probing the Epstein case. Supporters of the bill argue that full transparency is necessary to restore public trust in how the federal government handled the Epstein investigation. Critics of Higgins' position say privacy concerns should not override what they view as a clear public-interest imperative.
For Higgins, the vote reflects a principled stance rooted in his law-enforcement background — one that places due-process protections above political symbolism. For survivors, transparency advocates, and many of his colleagues, it raises lingering questions about how far Congress should go in exposing the full scope of one of the most scrutinized criminal networks in recent American history.
