President Trump's quest to install Alina Habba, his former personal defense lawyer, as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey hit another legal roadblock Monday after an appeals court ruled Habba was unlawfully serving as the state's top federal prosecutor. It's the latest move in a months-long legal chess game in which the courts repeatedly undo the president's effort to place Habba in the important blue state role.
In a unanimous vote, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, sitting in Philadelphia, said that a lower court ruling was correct in disqualifying Habba from serving in the role. The panel concluded that the Trump administration’s attempts to keep Habba in the role would "effectively [permit] anyone to fill the U.S. Attorney role indefinitely," with the panel adding that "this should raise a red flag."
READ MORE: Breaking: Federal Judge Declares Appointment of Trump's Personal Lawyer As US Attorney Illegal
Here's more from the ruling:
"Under the Government's delegation theory, Habba may avoid the gauntlet of presidential appointment and Senate confirmation and serve as the de facto U.S. Attorney indefinitely," the ruling said.
NEW: A federal appeals court has disqualified Alina Habba as U.S. attorney for New Jerseyhttps://t.co/nC5V4E1npE
— Axios (@axios) December 1, 2025
This saga all started back in March when Trump appointed Habba to the position on an interim basis, which meant she could serve as Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey for 120 days. The president then nominated her for the permanent role in June, but the U.S. Senate failed to act on her nomination; he withdrew her nomination on July 24.
On that same day, Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Habba to the role of a special attorney who could conduct "any kind of legal proceedings … which United States Attorneys are authorized to conduct." That move led to U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann to rule in August that Habba had been acting without legal authority for the previous two months and her actions could be considered void.
RedState's streiff did a masterful job of summarizing the legal wrangling over Habba's appointment here; he concluded:
Because of Senator Thune's inability or unwillingness to break the logjam holding up nominations, several interim U.S. Attorneys are facing a vote by a group of judges. Most of those are going for the administration, but there are a couple that seem doomed to follow Habba's rejection.
To streiff's point, Alina Habba isn't the only Trump appointee to find their job enmeshed in a legal quagmire.
Lindsay Halligan, Trump's pick for U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, had her appointment ruled "defective" last month. And Bill Essayli, chosen by the president to be Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, was disqualified after a federal judge ruled in October that Essayli was unlawfully serving in the role because his nomination had failed to be considered by the U.S. Senate.
As for Monday's ruling against Alina Habba, the panel had a message for the Trump administration:
“It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place,” senior US Circuit Judge D. Michael Fisher wrote in the 32-page ruling.
“Its efforts to elevate its preferred candidate for US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, to the role of Acting US Attorney demonstrate the difficulties it has faced—yet the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the US Attorney’s Office deserve some clarity and stability.”
As of this writing, the Trump White House had not commented on the ruling. Next steps could be for the administration to ask a full panel of 3rd Circuit judges to reconsider the decision – or going right to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Editor's Note: Radical leftist judges are doing everything they can to hamstring President Trump's agenda to make America great again.
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