Former Trump lawyer Alina Habba disqualified as New Jersey prosecutor, US appeals court rules
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Alina HabbaThe man the administration was maneuvering to keep on the job as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor has been disqualified from the job, the appeals court said Monday.
A panel of 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges in Philadelphia agreed with the lower court judge’s decision after hearing oral arguments. Habba was there too On October 20.
“It is clear that the current administration is frustrated by some of the legal and political obstacles to installing appointees. Its efforts to elevate Alina Habba, the preferred candidate for U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, to the role of Acting U.S. Attorney demonstrates the challenges she faces — but the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees of the U.S. Attorney’s Office deserve some clarity and stability,” the court wrote in the 32-page opinion.
It concluded: “We will uphold the District Court’s decision of disqualification.”
The decision comes amid pressure from President Donald Trump’s Republican administration to retain Habba as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney, a powerful post tasked with enforcing federal criminal and civil law. This also came after the justices questioned the government’s moves to keep Habba in the post after his interim appointment expired and without Senate confirmation.
In a statement sent to X after that hearing, Habba said he was fighting to become federal prosecutors on behalf of other candidates who were denied the chance to hear in the Senate.
Messages were left Monday seeking comment from the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey, Habba’s special agent and the Justice Department.
Habba is not the only Trump administration prosecutor whose appointment defense attorneys have objected to.
Last weekA federal judge dismissed criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after concluding that the hastily appointed prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed to the position of interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Ministry of Justice announced that it would appeal the decisions.
Two of the judges on the panel were appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, D. Brooks Smith and D. Michael Fisher, while one was Luis Felipe Restrepo, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama.
A. a lower court judge said in August Habba’s appointment was made through “a new set of legal and personnel moves” and he was not legally serving as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey.
That order said his actions since July could be invalidated, but he stayed the order pending an appeal.
The government argued that Habba validly served in that role under federal law that allows him to be a first assistant attorney appointed by the Trump administration.
A. Similar dynamics operate A federal judge in Nevada disqualified the Trump administration’s pick to become U.S. attorney there.
Habba’s lawsuit was filed after several people charged with federal crimes in New Jersey challenged the legality of Habba’s tenure. They tried to block the charges by arguing that the interim U.S. attorney did not have the authority to prosecute cases after his 120-day term because his term had expired.
Habba was Trump’s attorney in criminal and civil cases before he was elected to a second term. She briefly served as a White House counsel before Trump appointed her as a federal prosecutor in March.
In an interview with a right-wing figure shortly after his appointment, he said he hoped to help “turn New Jersey red,” a rare overt political statement from a prosecutor.
He later filed trespassing charges against Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for his visit to a federal immigration detention center, which were eventually dropped.
Habba later accused Democratic U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver of assault stemming from the same incident; this was a rare federal criminal case against a member of Congress other than corruption. McIver denied the charges and pleaded not guilty. The case continues.
Questions about whether Habba would continue in office arose as his interim appointment expired in July, and it became clear that New Jersey’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, would not support his appointment.
Earlier this year, as his term was coming to an end, federal judges in New Jersey used their authority under the law to replace Habba with a career prosecutor who served as his second-in-command.
Bondi then fired the judge-appointed prosecutor and changed Habba’s name to acting U.S. attorney. The Justice Department said the justices acted early and that Trump has the authority to appoint his preferred nominee to enforce federal laws in the state.
Brann’s decision noted that the president’s appointments are still subject to term limits and power-sharing rules set forth in federal law.
