Habba disqualified from serving as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, appeals court says
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba, whom his administration has maneuvered to keep in place as New Jersey top federal prosecutor, is disqualified from serving in the role, an appeals court said Monday.
A panel of judges from the third US circuit court of appeals sitting in Philadelphia sided with a lower court judge’s ruling after hearing oral arguments at which Habba herself was present on 20 October.
“It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place. 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 – yet the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the US attorney’s Office deserve some clarity and stability,” the court wrote in a 32-page opinion.
It concluded: “We will affirm the district court’s disqualification order.”
