PHILADELPHIA (CN) - A panel of Third Circuit judges on Monday upheld the disqualification of Alina Habba - President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer - as New Jersey's U.S. attorney, rejecting Trump's attempt to sidestep the standard appointment process.
"It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place," wrote U.S. Circuit Judge D. Michael Fisher, a George W. Bush appointee, in the 32-page opinion. "Its efforts to elevate its preferred candidate for U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, to the role of acting U.S. attorney demonstrate the difficulties it has faced - yet the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the U.S. Attorney's Office deserve some clarity and stability."
Earlier this year, the administration made several unconventional maneuvers to try to retain the Trump loyalist after her interim appointment expired, without congressional or judicial reappointment. Interim U.S. attorneys, appointed by the president, can only serve for 120 days unless they are confirmed by the Senate or their term is extended by the judges in the district they serve.
On July 22, a panel of federal judges in New Jersey declined to retain Habba, appointing her first assistant, Desiree Leigh Grace, to the position instead. Within hours, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Grace. Trump then withdrew Habba's nomination for U.S. attorney and appointed her as the attorney's first assistant. With no sitting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Habba was automatically promoted to acting U.S. attorney without approval beyond the executive branch.
Shortly thereafter, New Jersey's federal court proceedings were abruptly canceled, as a litany of defendants challenged whether indictments that Habba signed were legitimate.
The legal question made its way to federal court, where U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann of the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled in late August that Habba's appointment was invalid. Brann was designated to deliver the ruling after federal judges in New Jersey declined to extend Habba's appointment.
"Faced 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," Brann wrote in a 77-page ruling.
By sidestepping Senate confirmation, Brann ruled, the administration's moves violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, or FVRA, which mandates how vacant positions in the executive branch are to be filled.
"Taken to the extreme, the president could use this method to staff the United States Attorney's office with individuals of his personal choice for an entire term without seeking the Senate's advice and consent," Brann, a Barack Obama appointee in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, added.
The Trump administration quickly appealed, sending the case to a three-judge Third Circuit panel in Philadelphia, where Habba attended oral arguments in October.
However, the administration's attempts to defend Habba's retention failed to sway the panel, composed of Fisher, Joe Biden appointee L. Felipe Restrepo and George W. Bush appointee D. Brooks Smith.
"Habba is not the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey by virtue of her appointment as first assistant U.S. attorney because only the first assistant in place at the time of the vacancy arises automatically assumes the functions and duties of the office under the FVRA," Fisher wrote.
"Additionally, because Habba was nominated for the vacant U.S. attorney position, the FVRA's nomination bar prevents her from assuming the role of acting U.S. attorney. Finally, the attorney general's delegation of all powers of a U.S. attorney to Habba is prohibited by the FVRA's exclusivity provision. Therefore, we will affirm the district court's disqualification order."
Following the panel's ruling, U.S. Senator Cory Booker, representing New Jersey, took to social media to support the disqualification.
"Donald Trump attempted to bypass the Senate's constitutional role by installing a loyalist to act as U.S. attorney in New Jersey," Booker wrote on X. "From the beginning, I have objected to Trump's maneuvers to keep his preferred nominee in power and the court today affirmed that those maneuvers were unlawful. We now need a qualified, independent nominee to serve the people of New Jersey."
This is not the Trump administration's first attempt at sidestepping federal appointment processes - in July, Trump extended Sigal Chattah's term as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Nevada for 210 days, again bypassing congressional approval. A federal judge disqualified Chattah in September but paused the decision a month later pending appeal.
Source: Courthouse News Service
