Judges vote to not keep Habba as interim US attorney of New Jersey

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

Updated 1:20 PM EDT, Tue July 22, 2025


CNN — Federal judges in the district of New Jersey declined to extend Alina Habba’s appointment as interim US attorney on Tuesday, according to an order from the court. “Pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 546(d), the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey appoints Desiree Leigh Grace as the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

This appointment is effective July 22, 2025, or ‘upon the expiration of 120 days after appointment by the Attorney General’ of the Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, whichever is later,” the order signed by Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb said. President Donald Trump appointed Habba to the position on March 24. Interim US attorneys are only allowed to serve for 120 days if they are not confirmed by the US Senate or extended indefinitely by the district court in their jurisdiction.

Habba previously served as a spokesperson for the Trump campaign and as a personal attorney for Trump. She represented Trump during his civil fraud trial in 2023 and 2024. After Trump won reelection, Habba served as counselor to the president before Trump tapped her to serve as US attorney.

The president formally nominated Habba to serve in the position for a four-year term on July 1. Habba’s nomination is still awaiting a vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee before she would advance to the full Senate for a floor confirmation vote. It is unclear if Habba will continue to serve in the role as an acting US attorney or if the administration will appoint another US attorney while Habba awaits confirmation.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/22/politics/alina-habba-judges-us-attorney

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REFERENCES

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143489910
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143499114
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143499514

[underpants]

1. As you'd expect she was a disaster.

There was an article here just yesterday about it.

[Bev54]

2. LOL, I take whatever small laughs I can. Good for them.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Alina Habba Fails to Get US Attorney Nod From New Jersey Court

This made me smile

Link to tweet

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/white-collar-and-criminal-law/alina-habba-fails-to-get-us-attorney-nod-from-new-jersey-judges

Federal trial judges in New Jersey appointed Desiree Grace, first assistant in the state’s US attorney’s office, as interim head of the office, declining to extend the appointment of current temporary chief Alina Habba.

The appointment was announced by the District Court for the District of New Jersey in a Tuesday standing order signed by Chief Judge Renee Marie Bumb.

Habba, a former Trump personal defense attorney, has since late March served as the acting head of the New Jersey US attorney’s office. The office during her tenure brought high-profile cases against Democratic politicians and dismissed a long-running overseas corruption matter.

An interim US attorney can serve for no longer than 120 days after their appointment, under federal law. Once that appointment expires, a district court “may appoint a US attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled” on a permanent basis.

Habba can go back to representing parking garages

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I wouldn't be surprised

if 45 tapped her to be in some "advisor" position. He always has to have his "trophy women" around.

[kkmarie]

6. Or does Krasnov thrown Blondi under the bus

And appoints habba as Attorney General?

[BumRushDaShow]

7. The AG is a Senate-confirmed position

and if the Senate can't even confirm her as a U.S. Attorney, then it ain't happening as an AG (even "Acting" as I believe those who are "Acting" need to already be serving in a position that was confirmed by the Senate, even if a "lesser" level like a "Deputy" ).

[Tarzanrock]

5. Let's not forget that $938,000 dollar 'sanction' that Federal Judge Donald Middlebrooks levied on ...

Alina Habba and the Turd, jointly and severally, for their manifestly wrongful litigation conduct several years back. That sum earns interest at the legal rate of 10% -- you have to handle a whole lot of parking lot contractual dispute cases to pay the accruing 'interest' on that sanction sum off. Time to go to work, Ms. Habba to pay your debts.

[maxsolomon]

8. TRMS had a report on a different Trumpist asshole US Attorney in NY's 4th District

Same interim appointment expired, the judges voted not to retain him, Trump appointed him ASSISTANT US Attorney to the empty office. Apparently, he'll stay there indefinitely because our laws regarding these offices are a joke.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. This one

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143494837
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143497890

[maxsolomon]

11. That's the one. John Sarcone III.

Apparently, the judges in that district chose not to appoint a new US atty but those in Habba's did.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. I am only speculating

but I expect that they saw what happened in NY and had someone already there who could serve in the capacity and they did that appointment.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Maddow Blog-Alina Habba's troubled tenure as a federal prosecutor ends with a whimper

As Trump's former defense attorney gives up her U.S. attorney post, it's worth remembering that she never should've been appointed in the first place.

As Alina Habba walks away from her U.S. attorney post, it's worth remembering a key detail:

Trump never should've appointed his unqualified former defense attorney to serve as a federal prosecutor in the first place. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-07-22T18:34:05.449Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/alina-habbas-troubled-tenure-federal-prosecutor-ends-whimper-rcna220301

With this in mind, as Habba's appointment neared its end, there was still a chance that federal judges in New Jersey would allow her to hang on to her job. As NBC News reported, that didn’t happen:

Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba has been replaced as interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey after serving the maximum of 120 days on the job. Trump had officially nominated her for the position, but her nomination became stalled in the Senate. Federal judges could have authorized her to remain on the job, but they instead named her top deputy, Desiree Leigh Grace, as her replacement.

As Habba weighs her career options and her unfortunate tenure wraps up, there are a handful of angles to this story that are worth keeping in mind.

Habba never should’ve been appointed in the first place: I realize that the incumbent president tends to reward his former lawyers with powerful legal positions in his administration, but Habba was spectacularly unqualified for this position. Not only did she have no experience as a prosecutor, but Habba is perhaps best known for helping file a bizarre lawsuit targeting Hillary Clinton and several other Democrats in 2022, which proved so ridiculous that a judge imposed harsh sanctions on Habba for bringing “political grievances masquerading as legal claims” to court.

Habba’s tenure was a fiasco: The New York Times reported this week that Habba, since taking office, “shattered morale inside the U.S. attorney’s office and left many prosecutors looking for a way out, according to 16 close observers.” The same report noted that Habba disbanded the office’s Civil Rights Division, killed the office’s longest-running prosecution just days before it was scheduled to go to trial, and installed three framed pictures of herself in the office’s conference room.......

Habba faces an uncertain political future: Despite (or perhaps, because of) her disastrous tenure as an interim U.S. attorney, Trump has nominated her to fill that same position on a permanent basis. That said, the Republican-led Senate has, to date, ignored her nomination, though that might yet change. Watch this space.