Habba Resigns as New Jersey U.S. Attorney After Court Ruled Her Post Unlawful

Alina Habba, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, said Monday that she is stepping down as U.S. attorney for New Jersey after a federal appeals court ruled that she had been serving unlawfully, according to CBS News and Al Jazeera.

“As a result of the Third Circuit’s ruling, and to protect the stability and integrity of the office which I love, I have decided to step down,” Habba wrote on X. She added: “Do not mistake my compliance for surrender. This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me,” Al Jazeera reported.

Attorney General Pam Bondi accepted the resignation but faulted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, saying its ruling “has made it untenable for her to effectively run her office.” Bondi said Habba will serve as a senior adviser to the attorney general for U.S. attorneys and would return to New Jersey if the Justice Department wins on appeal. “The Department of Justice will seek further review of this decision, and we are confident it will be reversed,” Bondi wrote, according to Al Jazeera. CBS News noted that no Supreme Court appeal had yet been filed.

The dispute turns on how long an interim prosecutor can serve. CBS News reported that Trump announced in March that he had picked Habba as interim U.S. attorney. The law the administration used lets such an appointee serve 120 days, longer only if the district court extends the term or the Senate confirms a nominee. Before the deadline, New Jersey’s federal judges declined to extend Habba and instead chose her deputy, Desiree Leigh Grace, but Bondi fired Grace. The administration then used what CBS called a multi-step maneuver to keep Habba in place.

Three criminal defendants challenged her authority. A federal district judge ruled in August that Habba had been serving without lawful authority since early July, and last week the 3rd Circuit upheld that decision. Al Jazeera said the appeals court found that her continued service despite a lower court order ending her appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

Bondi argued that the judges “should not be able to countermand the president’s choice of attorneys entrusted with carrying out the executive branch’s core responsibility of prosecuting crime.”

The New Jersey ruling is not isolated. CBS News reported that the administration has installed temporary U.S. attorneys in Virginia, Nevada and California using similar mechanisms, and judges overseeing challenges in all three have ruled the appointments unlawful. In Virginia, Lindsey Halligan had secured indictments of two Trump foes, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James; a judge ordered those cases dismissed last month after concluding that Halligan was unlawfully appointed. Al Jazeera said Habba’s office oversees roughly 170 lawyers.