Trump Administration Backs Alina Habba’s Role as Leading New Jersey Prosecutor

PHILADELPHIA – On Monday, a federal appeals court will deliberate on whether Alina Habba, previously a lawyer for President Donald Trump, has been illegally occupying the position of New Jersey’s chief federal prosecutor since earlier this year.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia is set to examine the circumstances surrounding Habba’s appointment. A judge from a lower court previously declared in August that her appointment involved an “unusual series of legal and personnel maneuvers” and determined that she was not legitimately serving as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney.

This ruling indicated that actions taken by Habba since July might be rendered null, although the judge temporarily suspended this order to allow the U.S. Justice Department to file an appeal.

According to court documents submitted before the hearing, the government maintains that Habba’s role is legitimate under a federal law that authorizes the first assistant attorney, a position she was appointed to during the Trump administration.

A comparable situation is unfolding in Nevada, where a federal judge has rejected the administration’s selection for U.S. attorney.

In New Jersey, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann’s ruling came after several defendants facing federal charges questioned the legality of Habba’s appointment. They argued that her authority to prosecute their cases lapsed when her 120-day interim term as U.S. attorney concluded.

Habba was Trump’s attorney in criminal and civil proceedings before he was elected to a second term. She served as a White House adviser briefly before Trump named her as a federal prosecutor in March.

Shortly after her appointment, she said in an interview she hoped to help “turn New Jersey 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, eventually dropped, against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka stemming from his visit to a federal immigration detention center.

Habba later charged Democratic U.S. 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. McIver denied the charges and pleaded not guilty. The case is pending.

Questions about whether Habba would continue in the job arose in July when her temporary appointment was ending and it became clear New Jersey’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, would not back her appointment.

With her appointment expiring, federal judges in New Jersey exercised their power under the law to replace Habba with a career prosecutor who had served as her second in-command.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi then fired the prosecutor installed by the judges and renamed Habba as acting U.S. attorney. The Justice Department said the judges acted prematurely and said Trump had the authority to appoint his preferred candidate to enforce federal laws in the state.

Brann’s ruling said the president’s appointments are still subject to the time limits and power-sharing rules laid out in federal law.