{"id":417977,"date":"2025-12-01T20:48:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/417977\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T20:48:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:48:28","slug":"ex-trump-lawyer-habba-disqualified-as-new-jerseys-top-federal-prosecutor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/417977\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Trump lawyer Habba disqualified as New Jersey\u2019s top federal prosecutor"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s former personal lawyer Alina Habba<\/a> is disqualified from serving as New Jersey\u2019s top federal prosecutor despite his administration\u2019s maneuvers to keep her in the role, an appeals court said Monday. <\/p>\n

A panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Philadelphia sided with a lower-court judge\u2019s ruling after hearing oral arguments at which Habba was present<\/a> on Oct. 20. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place. Its efforts to elevate its preferred candidate for U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, to the role of Acting U.S. Attorney demonstrate the difficulties it has faced \u2014 yet the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office deserve some clarity and stability,\u201d the court wrote in a 32-page opinion. <\/p>\n

It concluded: \u201cWe will affirm the District Court\u2019s disqualification order.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Former Trump lawyer Alina Habba is disqualified as top New Jersey prosecutor, US appeals court rules\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on more Trump administration legal roadblocks.<\/p>\n

The ruling comes amid the push by Trump\u2019s Republican administration to keep Habba as the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, a powerful post charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law. It also comes after the judges questioned the government\u2019s moves to keep Habba in place after her interim appointment expired and without her getting Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n

Habba said after that hearing in a statement posted to X that she was fighting on behalf of other candidates to be federal prosecutors who have been denied a chance for a Senate hearing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Alina<\/p>\n

Alina Habba, President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to be the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, speaks with reporters outside the White House, March 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n

Alina Habba, President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to be the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, speaks with reporters outside the White House, March 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n

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The White House had no immediate comment on Habba and referred questions to the Justice Department. Messages were left Monday seeking comment from the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in New Jersey, Habba\u2019s personal staffer and the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

The decision affirmed Habba is serving unlawfully, attorneys for the appellees said in an emailed statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to challenge President Trump\u2019s unlawful appointments of purported U.S. Attorneys wherever appropriate,\u201d said attorneys Abbe Lowell, Gerry Krovatin and Norm Eisen in the statement. <\/p>\n

Other appointments have been challenged, too<\/p>\n

Habba is hardly the only Trump administration prosecutor whose appointment has been challenged by defense lawyers.<\/p>\n

Last week, a federal judge dismissed criminal cases<\/a> against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after concluding that the hastily installed prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan<\/a>, was unlawfully appointed to the position of interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Justice Department has said it intends to appeal the rulings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The judges on the panel were two appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, D. Brooks Smith and D. Michael Fisher, as well as one named by Democratic President Barack Obama, Luis Felipe Restrepo. <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t immediately clear how the ruling would affect prosecutions. Jacob Elberg, a Seton Hall Law School professor, said the decision would have \u201creal implications.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an office that has a lot of responsibility for protecting citizens from all types of criminal conduct as well as issues that are civil in nature, but real significant consequences,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this is a real challenge to that office\u2019s ability to do its work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge said Habba was unlawfully serving<\/p>\n

A lower-court judge, Matthew Brann, said in August that Habba\u2019s appointment was done with a \u201cnovel series of legal and personnel moves\u201d and that she was unlawfully serving<\/a> as U.S attorney for New Jersey. <\/p>\n

That order said Habba\u2019s actions since July could be invalidated, but the judge stayed the order pending appeal.<\/p>\n

The government argued Habba is validly serving in the role under a federal statute allowing the first assistant attorney, a post she was appointed to by the Trump administration. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in for Alina Habba as interim US Attorney General for New Jersey, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 28, 2025. (Pool via AP, file)<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in for Alina Habba as interim US Attorney General for New Jersey, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 28, 2025. (Pool via AP, file)<\/p>\n

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A similar dynamic is playing out in Nevada<\/a>, where a federal judge disqualified the Trump administration\u2019s pick to be U.S. attorney there. <\/p>\n

Who challenged Habba\u2019s tenure?<\/p>\n

The Habba case comes after several people charged with federal crimes in New Jersey challenged the legality of her tenure. They sought to block the charges, arguing she didn\u2019t have the authority to prosecute their cases after her 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney expired.<\/p>\n

Habba was Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Shortly after her appointment, she said in an interview that she hoped to help \u201cturn New Jersey red,\u201d a rare overt political expression from a prosecutor.<\/p>\n

She then brought a trespassing charge, eventually dropped, against Democratic Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka<\/a> stemming from his visit to a federal immigration detention center. <\/p>\n

Habba later charged Democratic U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n

\"Newark<\/p>\n

\n Newark mayor Ras Baraka arrives in support of Rep. LaMonica Mclver (D-10th) at a federal court Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)\n <\/p>\n

Newark mayor Ras Baraka arrives in support of Rep. LaMonica Mclver (D-10th) at a federal court Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)<\/p>\n

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\"Rep.<\/p>\n

\n Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., demands the release of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after his arrest while protesting outside of Delaney Hall ICE detention facility, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo\/Angelina Katsanis)\n <\/p>\n

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., demands the release of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after his arrest while protesting outside of Delaney Hall ICE detention facility, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo\/Angelina Katsanis)<\/p>\n

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Questions about whether Habba would continue in the job arose in July when her temporary appointment was ending and it became clear New Jersey\u2019s two Democratic U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, would not back her appointment. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year as Habba\u2019s appointment was expiring, federal judges in New Jersey exercised their power under the law to replace her with a career prosecutor who had served as her second-in-command.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Brann\u2019s ruling said the president\u2019s appointments are still subject to the time limits and power-sharing rules laid out in federal law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s former personal lawyer Alina Habba is disqualified from serving as New Jersey\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":417978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[100654,66651,43236,3881,11744,74792,356,69,57,3755,4228,49023,24980,133610,181121,195716,401,50,195717,5217,11335,2830,1311,80,37231,94,67,370,132,68,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-417977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-abbe-lowell","10":"tag-alina-habba","11":"tag-andy-kim","12":"tag-ap-top-news","13":"tag-barack-obama","14":"tag-cory-booker","15":"tag-courts","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-george-w-bush","19":"tag-indictments","20":"tag-james-comey","21":"tag-letitia-james","22":"tag-lindsey-halligan","23":"tag-local-news-for-apple","24":"tag-matthew-brann","25":"tag-new-jersey","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-norm-eisen","28":"tag-pa-state-wire","29":"tag-pam-bondi","30":"tag-pennsylvania","31":"tag-philadelphia","32":"tag-politics","33":"tag-ras-baraka","34":"tag-u-s-department-of-justice","35":"tag-united-states","36":"tag-united-states-government","37":"tag-unitedstates","38":"tag-us","39":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115646282276534890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}