FILE - Alina Habba, President Donald Trump's pick to be the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, speaks with reporters outside the White House, March 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
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The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia ruled Monday against the Trump administration’s attempt to retain Alina Habba as U.S Attorney for New Jersey.
Habba is the latest among a string of President Donald Trump’s appointees that have faced barriers. The administration has also done workarounds and other strategies to bypass the Senate confirmation process to keep those loyal to the president as top federal prosecutors.
The three-judge panel on Monday recognized that the Trump administration has had difficulties getting some of its appointees in place, but said Garden State residents and “loyal” employees of the U.S. Attorney’s office “deserve some clarity and stability.”
The Trump administration is “running out of options,” according to Jacob T. Elberg, a professor at Seton Hall University School of Law. He said an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible, but “is a challenge at this point.”
“Under one of the Trump administration’s theories, Habba’s term would’ve ended in January anyway,” Elberg said. “It might take longer than that for the Supreme Court to deal with the case.”
The Justice Department has not responded to a request for comment.
Before being picked to serve as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Habba — a New Jersey native — was appointed as Trump’s White House counselor.
Habba was a fashion merchandiser for Marc Jacobs before attending Widener University Commonwealth Law School. After serving as a clerk for New Jersey Superior Court Judge Eugene Codey Jr., she went into private practice. She opened her own firm in 2020.
She met the president as a member of his golf club in Bedminster.
Habba mostly served as a spokeswoman for his legal team, but was counsel in some of his legal matters. She first represented Trump in a $100 million lawsuit against the New York Times and his estranged niece, Mary Trump, in 2021. A judge dismissed the suit two years later.
In 2022, she represented Donald Trump in a federal lawsuit against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her campaign, the Democratic National Committee and others, where he accused the parties of attempting to destroy his first presidential bid. A federal judge in Florida dismissed the suit in 2023 and ordered Trump and Habba to pay nearly $1 million in fines. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the penalty, ruling that arguments from Trump and Habba “were indeed frivolous.”
Habba was also an advisor for Trump’s political action committee.
Trump initially picked John Giordano, a Philadelphia attorney with past federal and state experience. But the appointment didn’t last long because Giordano became the U.S. Ambassador to Namibia, a country in southwestern Africa.
That prompted the president to appoint Habba as Giordano’s successor. She instantly took a political approach to her job, criticizing Sen. Cory Booker and Gov. Phil Murphy, both Democrats, for neglecting crime in the state, specifically naming Camden and Newark, where Booker was once mayor.
Since her appointment, Habba talked about turning “New Jersey red.” She has also filed charges against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, claiming the Democratic congresswoman assaulted federal agents at a privately-operated detention center for migrants as they were attempting to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
The charges against Baraka were dropped and subsequently applied to McIver. A judge has recently upheld charges against McIver.
In addition to New Jersey, Trump appointed Julianna Murray as “interim” U.S. Attorney for Delaware last July.
Murray was chair of the GOP in the First State. Bondi changed her status to “acting” U.S. Attorney when the 120-day window ended in November.
Bondi has also implemented maneuvers to go around the appointment process to keep loyalists in place in California, Nevada and New Mexico.