PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: An appeals court this week confirmed a district court's order that Alina Habba, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, has been disqualified from serving as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor, despite the administration's maneuvers to keep her in the role.
A panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Philadelphia sided with a lower-court judge's ruling after hearing oral arguments on October 20, which Habba attended.
"It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place. 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," the court wrote in a 32-page opinion.
"We will affirm the District Court's disqualification order," the court said.
The judges also questioned the government's intent to retain Habba after her interim appointment expired and her Senate confirmation was rejected.
After the hearing, Habba posted on X, saying she was fighting on behalf of other candidates who had been denied the chance to become federal prosecutors.
Attorneys for the appellees said in an emailed statement that the decision affirmed Habba was serving unlawfully.
Attorneys Abbe Lowell, Gerry Krovatin, and Norm Eisen stated that they would continue to challenge President Trump's unlawful appointments of purported U.S. attorneys.
The judges on the panel were two appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, D. Brooks Smith and D. Michael Fisher, as well as one named by Democratic President Barack Obama, Luis Felipe Restrepo.
It was not immediately clear how the ruling would affect ongoing prosecutions. Jacob Elberg, a professor at Seton Hall Law School, said the decision would have "real consequences."
"This is an office that has a lot of responsibility for protecting citizens from all types of criminal conduct as well as issues that are civil in nature, but have real, significant consequences," he said. "And this is a real challenge to that office's ability to do its work."
Habba was Trump's lawyer in both criminal and civil cases before he won a second term. She briefly worked as a White House adviser before Trump appointed her as a federal prosecutor in March.
The case follows challenges brought by several federal defendants in New Jersey who questioned the legality of her appointment. They tried to stop their cases, saying she no longer had the authority to prosecute them because her 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney had ended.
Soon after taking the job, she said in an interview that she hoped to help "turn New Jersey red," an unusual political statement for a prosecutor.
