BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – When Alina Habba returned to the Peter W. Rodino Federal Building here at 970 Broad St. July 28, it was back to work as usual – mostly.
Habba, of Summit, is shepherding some 280 federal prosecutors and support staff like she has had since President Donald J. Trump appointed her as Interim U.S. Attorney in March.
Habba’s job title has been modified to “Acting” Attorney by the U.S. Department of Justice before Monday. She was sworn into her new 120 term by a federal judge first thing that morning – if not before Midnight Friday, when her interim term expires.
First Assistant Attorney Desiree Leigh Grace, who would be Habba’s successor or substitute, was nowhere in the Rodino Building Monday – she was fired by the Trump Administration Friday.
What started out as a general successional procedure July 24 turned into a tug of war between the Trump Administration and DOJ and the New Jersey District judges who normally make the selection.
Habba was first sworn in by a judge in March as an interim attorney. She succeeded Philip Sellinger, who resigned once Trump started his second term Jan. 20.
The interim attorney has up to 120 days to be selected by the federal judge panel, be confirmed by Congress and sworn in. Those 120 days, in Habba’s case, ended on Friday, July 25.
The federal judge panel, on July 22, bypassed Habba and selected Grace as the next U.S. attorney for N.J. Grace has been a career prosecutor.
Habba had been Trump’s personal attorney from 2021 to 2025, most significantly in the E. Jean Carroll v. Trump defamation case.in 2022.
Attorneys in the DOJ working for the Trump Administration, however, made their end run around Grace’s selection July 24-25. They first withdrew Habba’s nomination from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and appointed her as First Assistant U.S. Attorney. They then fired Grace, who was first assistant attorney until then.
U.S. Assistant Attorney Mark Coyne, on behalf of Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, fold a 28-page brief stating that his clients – not the judges panel – have the last say in attorney appointments.
Members of the Trump Administration have been challenging the checks, balances and guardrails of power since the President reassumed office. Trump himself has railed against “rouge judges” who ruled against him in several cases.
Grace, on June 22, had insisted that she would take office at 12:01 a.m. July 26, but that did not happen. She may be seen as one among thousands of federal employees who were doing their job and upholding the U.S. Constitution first above any partisan loyalty.
Habba meanwhile enjoys another 120 days in office into January; the Senate Judiciary Committee may then hold their intended hearings.
But these four months ahead by be off to a rocky start; federal court cases have been halted since Monday until a criminal defense lawyer’s brief questioning Habba’s authority is heard.
Thomas Mirigliano, representing Julien Giraud, Jr. in a drug case, filed a motion Monday to bar Habba and any DOJ-NJ attorney working for her be barred from acting, based on the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
