Oh, Alina Habba. The Trump administration has tried so mightily to keep you, the president’s former defense lawyer, installed as acting U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey, a job you are in no way qualified for. It turns out all their efforts were for naught, and you aren’t legally in your job. Oh—and you haven’t been since July 1.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann dropped Habba’s 77-page termination notice, and it is a treat if you are the kind of sicko who enjoys long walks on the beach, candlelit dinners, and reading about the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. If that’s not you, here are the highlights on how and why Habba is out.
Brann’s ruling was in response to a challenge by three people indicted by Habba’s office, arguing that if Habba is not lawfully in her role, then any actions she took in their criminal cases must be voided. Brann’s ruling does that in part, but the real story here isn’t about those individual cases. It’s that Habba isn’t eligible to perform the duties of a U.S. attorney and hasn’t been for nearly two months.
Habba’s complicated employment saga burst into view on July 24, when upon what was thought to be the expiration of her 120-day interim appointment, the federal judges in the district declined to continue her term and exercised their statutory authority to name someone else. It’s crazy that they didn’t think the ethically challenged former parking lot lawyer who got her job because she was one of Trump’s personal civil attorneys should serve as the state’s top prosecutor.
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Trump had formally nominated Habba on June 30, but the Senate never acted on her nomination, which is saying something, given their willingness to confirm luminaries like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Emil Bove. After the New Jersey judges told Habba they just weren’t that into her, the Trump administration sprang into action to save her, arguing that her 120-day interim appointment didn’t expire until July 26 and swiftly withdrawing her nomination from the Senate.
Then, Habba resigned her interim position, which, according to the administration, meant the role was now vacant. Habba was then simultaneously appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi to be both a special attorney and first assistant U.S. attorney, and, since the role of acting U.S. attorney was now vacant since Habba resigned, Habba now automatically ascended to the role because she was first assistant.
Whew! That is a lot. Too bad for Habba that none of it mattered. Here’s why, per Judge Brann.
The law allows for a 120-day interim appointment when the office of a U.S. attorney is vacant. But that means 120 days, period, not 120 days per person. So, when Bondi initially appointed John Giordano to the role on March 3, that was what started the clock ticking, not Habba’s later start. Brann also found that she wasn’t eligible to ascend to the acting U.S. attorney role via the late-July flurry of nonsense because she was not the first assistant at the time the real vacancy arose, back in January 2025.
The administration will no doubt race to the appellate courts and ultimately to the Supreme Court to try for a ruling that the president needs so he can be allowed to ignore Congress’ vacancy statutes and install his preferred candidates without confirmation for … reasons. But this problem wouldn’t arise if Trump appointed someone even marginally more qualified.
There’s a very low bar in place to get past this Senate, but everyone knows Habba can’t clear it.
