Alina Habba resigns from U.S. attorney's office after court found her appointment unlawful
Washington — Alina Habba, President Trump's former personal lawyer who was tapped to temporarily serve as U.S. attorney in New Jersey, said Monday that she is stepping down from her post after a federal appeals court ruled that she had been unlawfully appointed to the role.
"As a result of the Third Circuit's ruling, and to protect the stability and integrity of the office which I love, I have decided to step down in my role as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey," she wrote in a post on X.
Attorney General Pam Bondi separately wrote that she had accepted Habba's resignation but faulted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit for the move, saying the ruling "has made it untenable for her to effectively run her office."
Bondi said Habba will work as a senior adviser to the attorney general for U.S. attorneys and would return to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey if the Justice Department successfully wins an appeal to the Supreme Court, which it has yet to file.
Habba's decision to step down caps a tumultuous period within the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey. Her status as the top federal prosecutor was questioned by three criminal defendants who challenged the legality of her appointment as acting U.S. attorney this summer.
A federal district judge ruled in August that Habba had been serving without lawful authority since the beginning of July. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld that decision disqualifying Habba.
Bondi criticized that ruling, saying the judges who decided the case "should not be able to countermand the president's choice of attorneys entrusted with carrying out the executive branch's core responsibility of prosecuting crime."
Mr. Trump announced in March that he had tapped Habba to serve as the interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey. The law invoked by the Trump administration allowed her to hold the role for 120 days, though she could continue for longer if the U.S. district court in the state extended her tenure or if the Senate approved her nomination for U.S. attorney.
But ahead of the 120-day deadline, the district court judges in New Jersey declined to keep Habba in the role and instead voted to install her deputy, Desiree Leigh Grace, as U.S. attorney. That decision, however, set off a leadership scramble after Bondi fired Grace.
Mr. Trump and top administration officials then employed a multi-step maneuver to keep Habba as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey and get around the district court's decision.
The Trump administration has installed temporary U.S. attorneys in Virginia, Nevada and California using similar mechanisms, but continues to face resistance from federal courts. Judges overseeing challenges to all three appointments, including Lindsey Halligan in Virginia, have ruled that the appointments were unlawful.
Halligan had secured indictments against two of Mr. Trump's political foes, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, while serving as the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia. But a judge ordered the cases to be dismissed last month after concluding Halligan was unlawfully appointed to the role.
