Alina Habba, a former personal attorney for Donald Trump, has resigned as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey after a federal appeals court ruled that her appointment violated federal vacancies law. She said she was stepping down to protect the office’s integrity while continuing to serve in a new advisory role at the Justice Department.
Alina Habba resigned on Monday as the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, days after a unanimous ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that she had been unlawfully serving in the post.
The appeals court found that the Trump administration ran afoul of federal appointments law by keeping Habba in charge of the office after her 120‑day interim term expired without Senate confirmation, affirming an earlier district court decision that disqualified her from the role. According to Reuters and other outlets, some criminal matters in New Jersey’s federal courts were slowed or paused amid uncertainty over who was lawfully in charge of the office.
Habba, who rose to national prominence representing Trump in civil and other legal matters before his current term, was appointed interim U.S. attorney in March 2025 and later designated acting U.S. attorney. President Donald Trump nominated her for the permanent job, but the Senate has not acted on the nomination.
When her initial interim tenure ended after 120 days, New Jersey’s federal district court judges declined to extend her in the role and instead selected veteran career prosecutor Desiree Grace, who had been serving as Habba’s chief deputy, to lead the office. Attorney General Pam Bondi then removed Grace and placed Habba back in a senior position in the office, a maneuver that allowed Habba to continue exercising authority as acting U.S. attorney until the courts intervened.
In a statement released on social media and through the Justice Department, Habba said her departure should not be seen as a concession. She said she was stepping down "to protect the stability and integrity of the office" but insisted that "this decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me," according to accounts in national media. Habba will remain at the Justice Department as a senior adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi on issues involving U.S. attorneys nationwide.
Bondi has sharply criticized the rulings against Habba, calling the appellate decision legally flawed and arguing that judges are improperly constraining the administration’s ability to staff top prosecutorial posts. She has vowed to seek further review of the case and has suggested that Habba could potentially return to the New Jersey office if the decision is overturned.
New Jersey’s Democratic U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, praised the 3rd Circuit’s decision and said it vindicated their longstanding objections to how the administration handled Habba’s appointment. In a joint statement released on Dec. 1, they said the ruling "affirms that Alina Habba has been unlawfully serving as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey" and that the Trump administration’s effort to bypass clear legal requirements to install a loyalist "undermined the legitimacy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey."
The dispute over Habba’s status is part of a wider clash between the Trump administration and the federal courts over efforts to install preferred candidates in top Justice Department posts without Senate confirmation. Legal challenges to other interim U.S. attorney appointments are pending in several jurisdictions, and the 3rd Circuit’s ruling in Habba’s case is viewed by legal analysts as an important test of the limits on the administration’s appointment powers.
