Federal judge to rule on whether Trump loyalist Alina Habba can remain U.S. attorney for New Jersey
The long, strange case of controversial New Jersey U.S. attorney Alina Habba may finally be nearing its end as a federal judge prepares to hear arguments Friday on whether she can legally run prosecutions given her shaky claim to her office.
Habba, a fanatical Trump loyalist described by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker as a “partisan warrior,” has overstayed her interim appointment as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor thanks to a series of backroom deals and peculiar government machinations. Those included yanking her Senate nomination, changing her job title from “interim” to “acting” leader, and firing the underling tapped to take over when she left.
But those questionable actions — which have shocked legal experts and observers alike — have also opened the door for legal challenges to Habba’s authority.
In one such instance, two New Jersey men accused of drug and gun crimes — Julien Giraud Jr. and Julien Giraud III — have asked a federal judge to toss their case because Habba was “illegally appointed” in violation of federal law.
The judge, Matthew W. Brann, refused to dismiss their indictment because it was handed up under the previous U.S. attorney, Philip Sellinger.
But Brann did leave open the possibility of disqualifying Habba or any assistant prosecutor working on her behalf, should he find her appointment lacking.
“Assuming that Ms. Habba is legally barred from holding that office, as I am for the purposes of this opinion, such involvement would be illegal and subject to invalidation under the Appointments Clause or statute,” Brann wrote in court documents earlier this month.
“The Girauds are entitled to injunctive relief precluding Ms. Habba from participating in their prosecution if they are correct that she was appointed in violation of statute or the Constitution,” he continued. “And that injunctive relief should extend to [assistant U.S. attorneys] purporting to operate pursuant to Ms. Habba’s authority.”
In another plot twist, a bipartisan group of Congress members waded into the fight over whether Habba should keep her job, arguing in a brief Wednesday that the Trump administration’s “machinations” to keep her in office violate a federal law meant to reinforce the separation of powers required by the Constitution. The brief was filed by Democrat Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, four other House Democrats, and a former Republican congressman
If Brann finds that Habba was illegally appointed, it could mean more challenges from other defendants.
But one legal expert doesn’t think it will make much difference.
“It’s a medium deal in the short-term, and a nothingburger in the long run,” Anne Joseph O’Connell, a Stanford University law professor, told The Jersey Vindicator this week. “If Brann were to [rule against Habba], then actions she signed off on would be invalid and have to be redone. That would mean there was work to do, but it would be easy enough for the U.S. attorney’s office to do it.”
But Habba would likely keep her job, even if it meant changing the title by which she signs documents.
“Congress has allowed temporary officials, and they’re widespread — including in U.S. attorney spots,” O’Connell said. “So it’s common to have acting U.S. attorneys, or interim U.S. attorneys, or a special attorney to the Attorney General who performs the functions of the U.S. attorney.”
“The statutory landscape is complex, and so at times it looks ridiculous,” she said. “The title changes. But Habba [will likely] keep on representing the United States in court, for good or bad.”
That hasn’t stopped others from calling on Brann to knock out the pillars of Habba’s power.
“The Court should scrupulously enforce the statutes Congress passed with respect to the awesome position of U.S. attorney, a unique office that wields great responsibilities for securing justice and protecting civil liberties, by concluding that Ms. Habba is barred from serving as the acting U.S. attorney in this or any other case in the District of New Jersey,” reps from the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey wrote in an amicus brief submitted to the court.
“If the Court does not put a stop to this unconstitutional maneuvering, further mischief could lie ahead.”
A long road to a key hearing
The rocky path to Friday’s hearing, when government and defense attorneys will lay out their cases in Brann’s Williamsport, Pennsylvania, courtroom, started the second Trump installed the 41-year-old firebrand as the Garden State’s U.S. attorney back in March.
Habba had once served as Trump’s campaign spokesperson and personal attorney, and unsuccessfully defended him against sexual abuse allegations in 2023.
But political sources have told The Jersey Vindicator that Habba wore out her welcome in Trump’s inner circle, and the New Jersey post was meant to keep her far from Washington, D.C., where she could potentially bend the president’s ear.
Still, because Trump named her the “interim” leader of the 155-prosecutor office, she could only hold the spot for 120 days from her appointment before either the U.S. Senate or New Jersey’s panel of 17 district court judges had to approve her.
But neither of those things happened.
New Jersey’s Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, blocked her appointment in the upper chamber — hardly a surprise given Habba’s post-election, lightning-rod comments about trying to “turn New Jersey red” and her declared intention to investigate Democratic state officials over their immigration policies.
Then the federal judges brushed her aside in favor of her first assistant, Desiree Leigh Grace, a highly regarded legal mind whom The New York Times called “an experienced and no-nonsense prosecutor.”
But just as Habba’s term was about to expire on July 26, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi stepped in, fired Grace, and castigated the “politically minded judges” who tried to elevate her.
“[Alina Habba] has been doing a great job in making NJ safe again,” Bondi wrote in a social media post. “Nonetheless, politically minded judges refused to allow her to continue in her position, replacing Alina with the First Assistant.”
“Accordingly, the First Assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey has just been removed,” she continued. “This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges — especially when they threaten the President’s core Article II powers.”
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, also posted on social media that “district judges in NJ just proved this was never about law — it was about politics.”
“They forced out President Trump’s pick, Alina Habba, then installed her deputy, colluding with the NJ senators along the way,” he claimed. “It won’t work …. This backroom vote will not override the authority of the Chief Executive.”
‘Extreme implications’
Two days before the stunning move, Trump administration officials embarked on a Byzantine effort to cement Habba’s reign by pulling her Senate nomination, then having Habba resign as interim U.S. attorney.
Afterward, Bondi appointed Habba as a “special attorney to the attorney general,” which gave her the necessary powers to lead the office without a confirmation, Brann wrote in a summation.
Then Bondi named Habba to the position of first assistant, which automatically lifted her back into the U.S. attorney spot she’d just vacated, Brann wrote.
That will give her at least another 210 days in office, or potentially more if the administration also lets her serve as special attorney to the attorney general or nominates someone else who gets rejected, according to O’Connell, the Stanford professor.
“She could be performing the functions [of U.S. attorney] all the way through the end of the administration,” O’Connell said.
The administration also fired Grace on July 26, the day she was supposed to take over the office.
Giraud Jr. filed the motion to dismiss the following day, and the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Brann to take the case July 28 because New Jersey’s federal judges had obvious conflicts of interest.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey did not respond to a request for comment for his story. The Department of Justice also declined to comment.
Although it’s still not clear how he’ll rule, Brann seems exceptionally skeptical of the government’s circuitous route to putting Habba in power.
“The government’s position has extreme implications that it openly embraces: By using the special attorney designation and delegation, Ms. Habba may exercise all of the powers of the United States attorney without being subject to any of the statutory limitations on that office,” he wrote in the filing.
“The government offers no other argument that Ms. Habba may personally participate in the Girauds’ prosecution, assuming that she was illegally appointed,” he continued. “Accordingly, the legality of Ms. Habba’s appointment is squarely presented.”
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Steve Janoski is a multi-award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Post, USA Today, the Associated Press, The Bergen Record and the Asbury Park Press. His reporting has exposed corruption, government malfeasance and police misconduct
