From Fox News: An appellate court found on Monday that Alina Habba is unlawfully serving as the top prosecutor in New Jersey, delivering a blow to President Donald Trump as he fights to keep his preferred nominees in charge of U.S. attorneys’ offices in blue states.
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit said in a unanimous order that a lower court was correct to disqualify Habba, a fiery Trump loyalist who previously served as the president’s personal defense lawyer.
The Trump administration’s argument would “effectively [permit] anyone to fill the U.S. Attorney role indefinitely,” the panel wrote, adding that “this should raise a red flag.”
The administration could ask for a full panel of 3rd Circuit judges to reconsider the decision, or it could turn to the Supreme Court to weigh in. Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Justice and a Habba spokesperson for comment.
The report explains the judges who heard Habba’s case were two appointees of former President George W. Bush and an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
Habba could not go through the Senate confirmation process, primarily because New Jersey’s Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, refused to approve of her through the Senate’s blue slip tradition. The ‘blue slip’ process requires home state senators to approve of U.S. attorney and district judge nominees.
In a 3-0 decision, the Court of Appeals rules against the Trump administration on the appointment of Alina Habba as interim US attorney in New Jersey pic.twitter.com/YfugLi23oH
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 1, 2025
Appeals court disqualifies Trump’s N.J. prosecutor pick Alina Habba, rejecting DOJ challenge https://t.co/CTa0MLKwDD
— CNBC (@CNBC) December 1, 2025
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