The ruling further stymies the Trump administration’s use of unusual tactics meant to quickly put or keep largely unqualified U.S. attorneys in place without Senate confirmation.
Read "Appeals court upholds disqualification of Alina Habba as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-6GX6rWX6/8...
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https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/01/alina-habba-appeals-court-ruling-00671224
A panel of appeals court judges on Monday upheld the disqualification of Alina Habba, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, rejecting President Donald Trump’s use of unconventional methods to install loyalists atop U.S. attorney offices across the country.
“It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place,” Judge D. Michael Fisher, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote in the 32-page opinion. “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 — yet the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the U.S. Attorney’s Office deserve some clarity and stability.”
The ruling further stymies the Trump administration’s use of unusual tactics meant to quickly put or keep largely unqualified U.S. attorneys in place without Senate confirmation. Defendants are also challenging the authority of U.S. attorneys in California, Nevada, upstate New York and Virginia.
The Trump administration could appeal Monday’s ruling to the Supreme Court. Spokespeople for the Trump administration and Habba didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
In August, a lower-court judge ruled that Habba is serving unlawfully, and judges have subsequently made the same determination regarding the Trump-picked prosecutors in Nevada and the Los Angeles-area. Last week, a judge disqualified top federal prosecutor Lindsey Halligan in the eastern district of Virginia and tossed the politically charged cases she brought against Trump’s political enemies: former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
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