Trio of Habba successors are unlawfully leading NJ US Attorney's office, judge rules

Source: The Hill

03/09/26 4:20 PM ET


The trio of officials tapped to succeed Alina Habba by splitting the role of New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor are leading the office unlawfully, a federal judge ruled Monday, slamming the Trump administration for seeking to skirt congressional approval once again. U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann rejected the government’s assertion that Congress gave Attorney General Pam Bondi the authority to skip over Senate confirmation and hand-pick U.S. attorneys.

He called it “crystal clear and not capable of factual dispute” that the government’s intent is to act “unilaterally” to fill the role. The judge previously disqualified Habba, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, after finding that her tenure turned unlawful when she remained in the role after her 120-day interim term expired, despite the “novel series of legal and personnel moves” the administration took to keep her in the job.

“The work of the USAO-NJ is simply too important to continue throwing novel leadership plans at the wall to see what will stick,” the judge wrote Monday in a 130-page ruling. “Compromise is part of the system, and I implore the Government to take that approach. “If it does not, it is on notice that a third attempt at unilateral office filling will be met with extremely strict scrutiny, and any deficiency in its method will be taken as bad faith and result in dismissal of cases at any stage,” he said.

Brann paused his decision booting the three officials, whom he dubbed the “triumvirate,” pending appeal over the “novelty” of the legal questions before him. However, he warned the Trump administration against leaving them in their roles. “If the Government chooses to leave the triumvirate in place, it does so at its own risk,” the judge said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5775565-trump-trio-officials-ruled-unlawful/