Alina Habba Resigns as Acting US Attorney for New Jersey

Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba confirmed Dec. 8 that she is resigning from her position after a federal appeals court ruled that she was serving in it unlawfully.

In statements on social media, both Habba and Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed Habba’s decision to step down. Habba said that the move would protect “the stability and integrity of the office which I love,” while Bondi was critical of the appeals court order.

“But do not mistake compliance for surrender,” Habba, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, said in a post on X. “This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me.”

Habba’s announcement was made after a months-long legal fight regarding whether she could remain as U.S. attorney for New Jersey without confirmation in the Senate.

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week found that the Trump administration was in violation of the law after it sought to keep Habba as the state’s top federal prosecutor after she could not get support in the Senate, and the Justice Department (DOJ) has not yet appealed. In August, a federal judge ruled that Habba was serving in the position without legal authority.

“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 its opinion.

The judges also questioned the government’s moves to keep Habba in place after her interim appointment expired and without her getting Senate confirmation.

The government argued that Habba is validly serving in the role under a federal statute allowing the first assistant attorney to do so, a post to which she was appointed by the Trump administration.

In a statement on Dec. 8, Bondi described the appeals court ruling as “flawed” and said that she is “saddened to accept” Habba’s resignation, but stressed that the DOJ will review the court’s decision.

“The court’s ruling has made it untenable for her to effectively run her office, with politicized judges pausing trials designed to bring violent criminals to justice,” the attorney general said.

“These judges should not be able to countermand President Trump’s choice of attorneys.”

Habba will seek a return to the state’s U.S. attorney position despite the setback, according to Bondi.

Last week, a federal judge dismissed criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after it concluded that Lindsey Halligan, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was not lawfully appointed. The DOJ stated that it would appeal the decision.

A similar situation is playing out in Nevada, where a federal judge disqualified the Trump administration’s selection to serve there as U.S. attorney.

Later on Monday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that several officials would be appointed to head different divisions of the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey.

Philip Lamparello will serve as the office’s senior counsel and supervise the district’s criminal and special prosecutions divisions, Jordan Fox will serve as the district’s special attorney, and Ari Fontecchio will serve as the executive assistant U.S. attorney, according to a DOJ news release.

While speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said that Habba was “not disqualified” and criticized Republicans in the Senate for not moving to appoint his nominees. He said that the Senate GOP should abolish the upper chamber’s “blue slip” used by the Judiciary Committee to obtain feedback from the nominee’s home state senators.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.