Justice Department plays it fast and loose to keep Alina Habba in prosecutor's office

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Last edited Fri Jul 25, 2025, 06:45 PM - Edit history (1)

Habba’s disastrous tenure as a federal prosecutor appeared to be over — until Donald Trump and Pam Bondi came up with a scheme to keep her in place.

Justice Department plays it fast and loose to keep Alina Habba in prosecutor’s office
Habba’s disastrous tenure as a federal prosecutor appeared to be over — until Donald Trump and Pam Bondi came up with a scheme to keep her in place.

www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Raymond Norman (@raymondnorman.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T20:22:30.270Z

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/justice-department-alina-habba-prosecutor-trump-bondi-rcna221099

Nevertheless, four months ago, the president tapped Habba to serve as U.S. attorney in New Jersey on an interim basis, overseeing a large prosecutorial office. This week, her interim appointment expired, and it appeared her tenure had run its course.

As The New York Times reported, she’s apparently back.

The Justice Department on Thursday cleared the way for Alina Habba to remain in her role as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey. Ms. Habba’s tenure as interim U.S. attorney was set to expire on Friday. But she announced on social media on Thursday that she would be New Jersey’s acting U.S. attorney. The decision will allow Ms. Habba to lead the New Jersey office for at least the next 210 days.

This one gets a little complicated, but stick with me for a minute.

During her tenure as an interim U.S. attorney, Habba was a disaster. The New York Times reported that Habba, since taking office, “shattered morale inside the U.S. attorney’s office and left many prosecutors looking for a way out.” The unqualified Republican lawyer appeared far more interested in partisan politics than law enforcement......

In the process, as the editorial board of The Washington Post noted, the White House showed a “defiance of the judicial and legislative branches,” which in turn “tees up a possible challenge to a federal vacancies law and a century-old Senate custom called the blue slip.”

The “blue slip” tradition is itself a little complicated, but to briefly summarize, U.S. senators, regardless of party, are supposed to have the authority to reject U.S. attorney nominees in their home states. Both of New Jersey’s Democratic senators have predictably balked at Habba, her lack of qualifications, her alleged ethics mess and her overtly partisan antics.

Trump and Bondi, however, apparently don’t care, and keep going to outlandish lengths to keep Habba in her prosecutorial office.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. They want her there

To try and get our Governor, AG, Lt Gov, Assembly, and Senate Democrats arrested - so they can't redistrict our state.

[Wiz Imp]

2. This will definitely be headed to court

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Deadline: Legal Blog-How a routine drug case could decide Alina Habba's fate as U.S. attorney

Last edited Tue Jul 29, 2025, 05:25 PM - Edit history (1)

A New Jersey defendant argues that Habba can’t lawfully prosecute the case because she isn’t legally the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.

How a routine drug case could decide Alina Habba’s fate as U.S. attorney. How a routine drug case could decide Alina Habba’s fate as U.S. attorney www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...

— ClimateAngelSOS ✡️🇺🇸☮️🌎🐝🌻🦋🇺🇦 (@climateangel.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T20:46:02.833Z

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/alina-habba-us-attorney-julien-giraud-lawsuit-rcna221696

When Julien Giraud Jr. was federally indicted on drug and gun charges last year in New Jersey, he had little reason to think his case would double as a challenge to the lawfulness of Alina Habba’s position as U.S. attorney. But that challenge is now playing out, as the defendant argues that the Trump ally isn’t lawfully serving in her position and therefore the office she purports to lead lacks the authority to prosecute him.....

So what’s Giraud’s argument? In a motion filed Sunday ahead of his trial set for next week, his lawyer Thomas Mirigliano wrote that Habba’s reappointment violated federal law because the fact that Trump submitted Habba’s nomination to the Senate prevents her from serving in an acting capacity, regardless of whether Trump subsequently withdrew her nomination or not. He argued that being prosecuted by an unauthorized U.S. attorney undermines his due process rights, so he asked U.S. District Judge Edward Kiel, the New Jersey judge handling his case, to dismiss the indictment or at least to block Habba or any prosecutor acting under her authority from prosecuting him.

The New York Times reported that federal court proceedings throughout New Jersey “were abruptly canceled on Monday because of uncertainty over” Habba’s authority, citing Giraud’s case and others. Habba is one of several lawyers who represented Trump in his personal capacity and have gone on to high-ranking Justice Department posts during his second term.

After Giraud filed his motion, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, which covers New Jersey and nearby states, tapped Pennsylvania’s chief federal trial judge for the state’s middle district, Matthew Brann, to preside over the matter. The chief circuit judge made the move under a law that says chief circuit judges “may, in the public interest, designate and assign temporarily any district judge of the circuit to hold a district court in any district within the circuit.”.....

Brann ordered a status conference with the parties to take place Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., so the direction in which the matter is headed could become clearer later Tuesday. Whatever happens at the trial court level might not be the last word on this consequential and thorny issue, so this could be just the start of drawn-out litigation.

This will be a fun case to watch.