A panel of federal judges Tuesday voted not to extend Alina Habba’s term as President Trump’s interim New Jersey US attorney — and Attorney General Pam Bondi then swiftly booted their hand-picked replacement.
“[Habba] has been doing a great job in making NJ safe again. Nonetheless, politically minded judges refused to allow her to continue in her position, replacing Alina with the First Assistant,” Bondi posted on X Tuesday night.
“Accordingly, the First Assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey has just been removed,” the AG wrote.
“This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges — especially when they threaten the President’s core Article II powers.”
The federal judiciary panel was mainly made up of judges picked by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Habba, who had served as the Garden State’s top prosecutor since being sworn in March 28, has just 120 days to serve before her temporary term expired July 26.
In the absence of Senate confirmation and with Trump not willing to pull her nomination, the Garden State’s 17 federal judges could have voted to extend her tenure.
Federal law allows for district judges to extend a nominee’s interim term until the vacancy is filled, should they fail to be confirmed by the US Senate.
But the panel opted against that.
In a signed order Tuesday, Chief US District Judge Renée Marie Bumb announced the appointment of another member of the New Jersey US Attorney’s office, Desiree Leigh Grace, to take over for Habba — who had appointed Grace first assistant US attorney shortly after taking office.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche accused the Jersey judges of “trying to force out [Habba] before her term expires at 11:59 p.m. Friday.
“Their rush reveals what this was always about: a left-wing agenda, not the rule of law,” Blanche wrote on X. “When judges act like activists, they undermine confidence in our justice.”
John Sarcone, Trump’s pick to lead the US attorney’s office based in Albany, NY, had been rebuffed by a similar board of judges but apparently found a workaround when Bondi made him a special assistant US attorney.
“I became ‘acting’ US attorney for an indefinite term,” Sarcone explained to the New York Law Journal, claiming he had “all the powers of the US attorney” as the top prosecutor in the Northern District of New York.
It’s unclear if Bondi will pursue a similar path with Habba, who was blocked from beginning the traditional vetting process in the Senate.
New Jersey’s Democratic senators — Cory Booker and Andy Kim — both already opposed Habba’s confirmation, withholding their so-called “blue slips” to block the Judiciary Committee from considering Trump’s onetime personal attorney.
Without a blue slip, Habba’s only choice was to have her term extended by the New Jersey judges.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) also pressured the state’s judicial panel to oppose Habba, claiming she had “maliciously indicted” New Jersey Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver for her actions during a protest at a Newark immigration detention center in May.
“Habba is a woefully unqualified political hack who must go,” Jeffries declared in a July 18 post on X.
“She must be rejected by the Federal District Court Judges who are considering whether to retain her.”
Jeffries’ action prompted a US House Ethics Committee filing from a conservative legal group, the Article III Project, which accused the House Democratic leader of “corruptly strong-arming 17 New Jersey U.S. district judges–including 15 Obama and Biden judges–to fire” Habba.
Mike Davis, the president of the Article III Project, also charged that Jeffries was improperly intervening in federal criminal proceedings involving McIver.
Habba had also threatened but never brought charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for the demonstration at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
McIver has pleaded not guilty to assaulting ICE officers during the protest
