Court disqualifies Trump ally Habba as top New Jersey federal prosecutor
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest blow to Trump and his Justice Department as they seek to install loyalists to oversee key US Attorney's offices around the country
A federal appeals court determined on Monday (1 December) that Alina Habba, a former personal lawyer to Donald Trump, was unlawfully appointed as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey and disqualified her from supervising cases in a decision rebuking the Republican president.
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest blow to Trump and his Justice Department as they seek to install loyalists to oversee key US Attorney's offices around the country.
The 3rd Circuit upheld US District Judge Matthew Brann's ruling in August that the Trump administration violated a federal appointments law in naming Habba as acting US Attorney in New Jersey.
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"It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place," Judge D Michael Fisher wrote in the ruling.
"Its efforts to elevate its preferred candidate for US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, to the role of Acting US Attorney demonstrate the difficulties it has faced."
The ruling is likely to impact scores of active federal criminal cases in New Jersey, forcing the Justice Department to find a new prosecutor to supervise those cases. The administration could appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court.
