Scuffle over US attorney pick Alina Habba leaves New Jersey senators in the dark

WASHINGTON (CN) — New Jersey Senator Andy Kim on Wednesday ripped the Donald Trump administration over its opaque approach to the nomination of Alina Habba as the Garden State’s U.S. attorney.

Kim’s complaints come just hours after top Justice Department officials accused a New Jersey federal court of “colluding” with him and Senator Cory Booker to remove Habba from her position as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey — and fired her court-appointed replacement.

Judges on the District of New Jersey on Tuesday refused to extend Habba’s term as the state’s interim top prosecutor, opting instead to tap First Assistant Desiree Grace for the position. Habba, appointed by Trump in March to a 120-day term as acting U.S. attorney, was set to leave the role this week.

But Attorney General Pam Bondi announced just hours later that she had removed Grace from the role. In a post on X, she slammed the court as “politically minded” and suggested the move to replace Habba threatened Trump’s powers under Article II of the Constitution.

In a separate post, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote that the judges’ “backroom vote” should not override what he said was the executive’s authority.

“The district judges in NJ just proved this was never about law — it was about politics,” Blanche said. “They forced out President Trump’s pick, @USAttyHabba, then installed her deputy, colluding with the NJ senators along the way.”

Federal law gives courts the power to select an interim U.S. attorney in their district if the Senate fails to confirm a permanent federal prosecutor before an interim attorney’s 120-day term expires. Though Habba was nominated by the White House to become New Jersey’s full-time U.S. attorney, Booker and Kim have leveraged Senate procedure to block her from advancing to a vote.

For now, it’s unclear what Grace’s removal means for New Jersey’s U.S. attorney position — and Kim told Courthouse News on Wednesday that his office has largely been left in the dark on this front.

“They’ve been incredibly nontransparent about this entire process, which is what I’ve been so frustrated with,” he said. “They wouldn’t let me interview other nominees for U.S. attorney from the outset, and certainly not abiding by the roles and responsibilities I should be able to have for such an important position regarding my home state.”

Kim acknowledged that he was concerned that the Trump administration could try to reappoint Habba for another term as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey. “I have concerns about anything related to Habba playing a role in my state again,” he said.

Though federal statute gives courts authority to replace an acting U.S. attorney after the 120-day term, the law is vague about subsequent presidential appointments. And the Justice Department has already used a creative loophole to get around that term limit in another district.

Bondi earlier this month named John Sarcone, formerly acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, as a special attorney to the attorney general as well as first assistant U.S. attorney — effectively extending his term as the district’s top prosecutor indefinitely. The Justice Department has said that Sarcone’s appointment is legal pursuant to the Vacancy Reform Act.

Kim wouldn’t say Wednesday whether he thought it would be illegal for the Trump administration to reappoint Habba but said that the White House should respect the court’s decision not to extend her term.

“This process went as it should have, and the judges made their decision,” Kim said. “It’s something that we should all respect.”

Asked whether Trump would consider reappointing Habba, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields declined to say, writing instead in a statement that the president had “full confidence” in her and her work as acting U.S attorney.

“The Trump administration looks forward to her final confirmation in the U.S. Senate and will work tirelessly to ensure the people of New Jersey are well represented,” he added.

For now, though, Senate tradition stands in the way of Habba’s final confirmation — Kim and Booker have said that they will withhold blue slips on her nomination, a longstanding chamber courtesy that allows home state senators to blockade certain judicial nominees.

Meanwhile, in a joint statement Tuesday night, both Kim and Booker slammed the Justice Department for firing Grace. They argued that the move was just the latest example of the administration “publicly undermining” judicial decision making and disregarding the constitutional separation of powers.

“The firing of a career public servant, lawfully appointed by the court, is another blatant attempt to intimidate anyone that doesn’t agree with them and undermine judicial independence,” the New Jersey Democrats wrote. “This administration may not like the law, but they are not above it.”

Habba, previously a member of Trump’s personal legal team and one of his close advisors, used her tenure as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey to prosecute Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after a scuffle involving lawmakers and law enforcement outside a federal immigration facility in the Garden State.

The Justice Department has since dropped those charges — but it has followed through on a similar case against New Jersey Representative LaMonica McIver, who the government has accused of assaulting law enforcement during the immigration facility incident. McIver has pleaded not guilty.

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