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

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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.