A Democrat-aligned federal judge will decide this week whether President Donald Trump’s appointee, Alina Habba, can continue serving as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey.
It comes after the president bypassed the Senate confirmation process to keep Habba in the role.
Judge Matthew Brann, an Obama appointee serving in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, presided over a Friday hearing on the matter.
The judge said he will issue a ruling by midweek.
The case was shifted out of New Jersey because the Third Circuit determined it presented too much of a conflict for that state’s judges.
The challenge comes from a criminal defendant, Julien Giraud Jr., who faces routine drug and gun charges in New Jersey.
His attorney argued that Habba’s appointment violated constitutional protections.
Giraud’s lawyers are pointing to the unusual sequence of moves Trump used to keep his former personal attorney in the post.
Habba had originally been installed as interim U.S. attorney, a role that carries a 120-day limit.
When her term expired, New Jersey’s federal judges declined to extend it and instead installed career prosecutor Desiree Grace.
Trump fired Grace, withdrew Habba’s nomination for the permanent position.
The president then reappointed Habba as acting U.S. attorney.
The move kept her in charge for at least another 210 days under vacancy laws.
According to the New Jersey Monitor, Giraud’s attorney told the court:
“It goes completely against what the statute is meant to protect.”
The Department of Justice pushed back, insisting Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi followed federal vacancy statutes correctly.
In a filing, DOJ attorneys wrote:
“The Girauds invent a requirement that, to serve as an ‘Acting officer’ … one must already be the first assistant to that office when the vacancy arises.
“That is dead wrong textually; it makes no sense practically; and it relies on a mistaken premise.”
The fight over Habba’s tenure is part of a broader pattern.
In blue states like California and New York, Trump has used similar maneuvers to install U.S. attorneys despite Senate Democrats refusing to advance his nominees.
The approach has drawn sharp criticism from left-leaning legal groups.
The Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey filed an amicus brief opposing Habba’s appointment.
The organization is arguing that Trump and Bondi “violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution with their ‘novel’ orders.”
The group said Bondi made Habba a “special attorney” before designating her as the office’s “first assistant,” a move they called unprecedented.
“To our knowledge, no prior Attorney General has ever attempted this,” the group wrote.
For now, the decision rests with Judge Brann.
The Obama-linked judge must determine whether Trump’s aggressive use of federal vacancy laws will stand.
Or Brann could help the Democrats and their allies block Habba from keeping the post.
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