Federal judge rules Trump appointee Alina Habba is unlawfully serving as US attorney

A judge on Thursday found that Alina Habba was unlawfully serving in the role of acting U.S. attorney of New Jersey after President Donald Trump sidestepped typical processes to keep her in charge.

Judge Matthew Brann said Habba has not been the rightful temporary U.S. attorney for New Jersey since July 1, a ruling that follows two criminal defendants in New Jersey challenging her appointment in court, alleging it was unconstitutional.

“Faced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not,” Brann wrote in a 77-page order.

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Habba, Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, had been serving as interim U.S. attorney, but when her term expired last month, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi used loopholes in federal vacancy laws to install her as “acting” rather than “interim” U.S. attorney.

One of the defendants in the district, Julien Giraud, alleged that the moves violated his constitutional rights because of the string of unconventional actions it took to attempt to keep Habba in the role.

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Brann, an Obama appointee serving in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, agreed and found Habba could not prosecute Giraud or another defendant who challenged Habba’s position. The judges said the criminal cases could proceed in the court district, just not under Habba’s purview.

Brann is presiding over the matter after the chief judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers New Jersey and Pennsylvania, decided the case presented too much of a conflict for New Jersey’s federal judges.

Last month, the New Jersey judges made the rare decision to decline to extend Habba’s term and instead appointed career attorney Desiree Grace to the job. Trump and Bondi fired Grace, withdrew Habba’s nomination as permanent U.S. attorney and then reinstated Habba as acting U.S. attorney, which they said kept Habba in charge for at least another 210 days under federal statute.

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Brann said his ruling effectively disqualified Habba from prosecuting the two defendants’ cases and that her signatures on court filings were invalid, opening the floodgates for other defendants in New Jersey to object to Habba prosecuting them as well.

The judge said his ruling would not take effect until the Trump administration had an opportunity to appeal.

Spokespeople for Habba and the DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.

Brann’s ruling comes against the backdrop of Trump and Bondi using similar maneuvers to keep the president’s preferred appointees as head prosecutors of court districts in blue states, including in California and New York, where the appointees are struggling to find paths to Senate confirmation.

Brann said the Trump administration improperly flouted the Federal Vacancies Reform Act by exploiting its loopholes in Habba’s case.

“A statutory interpretation that opens a gaping loophole in this tightly crafted scheme meant to provide only limited flexibility and prevent ‘manipulation’ flies in the face of the goal that Congress was trying to accomplish,” Brann wrote. “Although clearer text could require such a result, the Government’s arguments reaching such a conclusion through vague implication must fail.”