WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A judge decided on Thursday that Alina Habba, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s lawyer, has been improperly acting as the lead federal prosecutor in New Jersey.
The court determined that the administration used “an unconventional set of legal and staffing strategies,” and stated that Habba’s position as the interim U.S. Attorney concluded in July. It was noted that the Trump administration’s attempts to maintain her position without Senate confirmation did not adhere to federal legal requirements.
FILE – Alina Habba, chosen by President Trump to serve as the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, is pictured discussing with journalists outside the White House on March 26, 2025, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
“Upon evaluating whether Ms. Habba is legally fulfilling the duties of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I determined she is not,” wrote Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann.
Brann said he’s putting his order on hold pending an appeal.
A message seeking comment was sent to Habba’s office Thursday. The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Judge Brann’s ruling was prompted by a challenge from New Jersey defendants regarding Habba’s authority and the charges she was pursuing against them. They sought to prevent the prosecutions, claiming that Habba lacked the authority to continue after her 120-day interim term ended in July.
The defendants’ effort to obstruct Habba, who once served as a White House advisor and former personal legal counsel to President Trump, marks yet another significant event in her brief tenure.
She made headlines when Trump named her U.S. attorney for New Jersey in March. She said the state could “turn red,” a rare, overt political expression from a prosecutor, and said she planned to investigate the state’s Democratic governor and attorney general.
She then brought a trespassing charge, which was eventually dropped, against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka stemming from his visit to a federal immigration detention center. Habba later charged Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver with assault stemming from the same incident, a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress other than for corruption. She denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
Volatility over her tenure unfolded in late July when the four-month temporary appointment was coming to a close and it became clear that she would not get support from home state Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, effectively torpedoing her chances of Senate approval.
The president withdrew her nomination. Around the same time, federal judges in New Jersey exercised their power under the law to replace Habba with a career prosecutor when Habba’s temprorary appointment lapsed, but Attorney General Pam Bondi fired that prosecutor and renamed Habba as acting U.S. attorney.
The Justice Department has said in filings that the judges acted prematurely and that the executive has the authority to appoint his preferred candidate to enforce federal laws in the state.
Trump had formally nominated Habba as his pick for U.S. attorney on July 1, but Booker and Kim’s opposition meant that under long-standing Senate practice known as senatorial courtesy, the nomination would stall out.
A handful of other Trump picks for U.S. attorney are facing a similar circumstance.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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