Trump\u2019s former lawyer Alina Habba is once again having to battle the justice system for the right to be U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, a judge\u00a0ruled\u00a0that Habba had been \u201cunlawfully\u201d acting as the U.S. attorney despite being appointed by President Donald J. Trump to perform the duties of the job.<\/p>\n
The legal conflict originated when a panel of judges decided that Habba could no longer serve as Acting U.S. Attorney in the federal district, spurring President Trump to pull a maneuver whereby her replacement was fired and he reappointed her.<\/p>\n
Judge Matthew Brann, an Obama appointee sitting in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, issued a 77-page order finding that Habba has been \u201cwithout lawful authority\u201d to serve since July 1. The decision came after criminal defendants in New Jersey challenged her appointment, arguing it violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not,\u201d Brann wrote. He added that her signatures on case filings were invalid and that she \u201cmust be disqualified from participating in any ongoing cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brann\u2019s ruling does not throw out the criminal indictments of the defendants who filed the challenge but bars Habba from prosecuting them, leaving the cases to proceed under other leadership in the office. He placed the ruling on hold to give the Justice Department time to appeal.<\/p>\n
Habba, who gained national prominence as one of Trump\u2019s defense attorneys, had been installed as interim U.S. attorney earlier this year. Under federal law, that status was limited to 120 days unless extended by the court or confirmed by the Senate.<\/p>\n
When the judges in New Jersey declined to keep her on and instead appointed career prosecutor Desiree Leigh Grace, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi intervened. They fired Grace, pulled Habba\u2019s nomination as permanent U.S. attorney, and reinstalled her as \u201cacting\u201d U.S. attorney under a separate vacancy statute that they argued gave her another 210 days in charge. Brann rejected that maneuver outright.<\/p>\n
\u201cA statutory interpretation that opens a gaping loophole in this tightly crafted scheme meant to provide only limited flexibility and prevent \u2018manipulation\u2019 flies in the face of the goal that Congress was trying to accomplish,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAlthough clearer text could require such a result, the Government\u2019s arguments reaching such a conclusion through vague implication must fail.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ruling is the latest turn in what has become a standoff between the Trump administration and the judiciary over U.S. attorney appointments in blue states. Brann noted that the administration had attempted similar tactics in California and New York, where nominees favored by the president face little chance of winning Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n
The defendants who challenged Habba\u2019s authority included individuals charged with drug trafficking and fraud. One of them, Julien Giraud, claimed that allowing Habba to prosecute him violated his constitutional rights because she was installed through an unlawful process. Brann agreed, writing that the appointments violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act\u2019s limits and timeline.<\/p>\n
Brann was assigned the matter after the chief judge of the Third Circuit ruled that New Jersey\u2019s federal judges were conflicted because of their earlier decision to remove Habba. His ruling now leaves the Justice Department and White House with a choice: appeal the decision and continue to fight for Habba to remain, or move forward with a new appointment.<\/p>\n
Habba, however, is celebrating a legal victory in the State of New York.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Letitia James\u2019 civil case against Donald Trump has completely fallen apart, as a panel of appellate judges struck down the $500 million civil penalty against him as unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s ruling by the New York appeals court is a resounding victory for President Trump and his company,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe court struck down the outrageous and unlawful $464 million penalty, confirming what we have said from the beginning: the Attorney General\u2019s case was politically motivated, legally baseless, and grossly excessive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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