{"id":2516187,"date":"2025-12-01T14:52:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-deals-a-blow-to-the-trump-administration-with-ruling-against-alina-habba\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T14:53:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:53:30","slug":"appeals-court-deals-a-blow-to-the-trump-administration-with-ruling-against-alina-habba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-deals-a-blow-to-the-trump-administration-with-ruling-against-alina-habba\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeals Court Deals a Blow to the Trump Administration with Ruling Against Alina Habba"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fappeals-court-deals-a-blow-to-the-trump-administration-with-ruling-against-alina-habba%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2516187&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-court-is-fast-tracking-sidney-powells-request-for-a-forensic-exam-of-dominion-voting-machines\/\" title=\"Federal Court Is Fast-Tracking Sidney Powell\u2019s Request For A Forensic Exam Of Dominion Voting Machines\">appeals court<\/a> ruled<\/a> that Alina Habba is ineligible to serve as the U.S.Attorney for New Jersey. Originally appointed as an interim U.S. Attorney by Attorney General Pam Bondi for a 120-day term, Habba was later nominated by former President Donald Trump for the permanent position. However, the Senate never confirmed her, and Trump withdrew her nomination. Despite this, Bondi appointed Habba as a special attorney with broad authority to act as U.S. Attorney. The appeals court, in a unanimous decision, found this appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, as it bypassed the constitutional requirement for presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. The ruling emphasized that only a district court, not the Attorney General, can appoint an interim U.S. Attorney beyond the 120-day limit until the Senate confirms a nominee. This decision reflects broader legal challenges to several Trump administration interim appointments of U.S. Attorneys, wich some courts have deemed unlawful.The Department of Justice may appeal the ruling.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Alina Habba is disqualified to serve as U.S. attorney for New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Pam Bondi selected Habba to serve as an interim U.S. attorney, which carried with it a time limit of 120 days.<\/p>\n<p>But President Donald Trump then nominated Habba, his former personal lawyer, to serve in the permanent position in June. However, the Senate never acted on the nomination, so he withdrew her name on July 24, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/12\/01\/trump-alina-habba-new-jersey-attorney-ruling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Axios<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>That same day, Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Habba a special attorney with the authority to oversee &ldquo;any kind of legal proceedings &hellip; which United States Attorneys are authorized to conduct,&rdquo; 3rd U.S Circuit Court Judge D. Michael Fisher, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote in the <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.ca3.125818\/gov.uscourts.ca3.125818.81.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">32-page opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow appeals court Judges D. Brooks Smith, also a Bush appointee, and Judge L. Felipe Restrepo, appointed by former President Barack Obama, joined in the ruling, finding Habba&rsquo;s appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Under the Government&rsquo;s delegation theory, Habba may avoid the gauntlet of presidential appointment and Senate confirmation and serve as the de facto U.S. Attorney indefinitely,&rdquo; the ruling by a three-judge panel said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This view is so broad that it bypasses the constitutional PAS [Senate confirmation] process. It also essentially eliminates the requirements of the FVRA and the U.S. Attorney-specific statute, &sect; 546,&rdquo; they added.<\/p>\n<p>Statute &sect; 546 provides that, after 120 days, &ldquo;the district court for such district may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">BREAKING: Rogue judges have just disqualified Alina Habba from serving as U.S. Attorney in New Jersey.<br \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ITR1C8O5cO\">pic.twitter.com\/ITR1C8O5cO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bennyjohnson\/status\/1995521340473020661?\">December 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In other words, the judges in the district and not the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-ag-barr-authorizes-federal-prosecutors-to-pursue-substantial-allegations-of-voting-irregularities-before-2020-election-is-certified\/\" title=\"BREAKING: AG Barr Authorizes Federal Prosecutors to Pursue &quot;Substantial Allegations&quot; of Voting Irregularities Before 2020 Election is Certified\">attorney general<\/a> have the authority to appoint the interim U.S. attorney until the Senate confirms a nominee to the position.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Department lawyer Henry Whitaker had argued on appeal that the attorney general had followed the law, employing &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-finds-habba-unlawfully-served-as-nj-prosecutor\/\" title=\"... finds ... unlawfully served as NJ prosecutor\">overlapping mechanisms&#038;rdquo<\/a>; to retain Habba in the post, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/trump-hit-setback-court-rules-alina-habba-unlawfully-served-top-federal-prosecutor-new-jersey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fox News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In this case, the executive branch admittedly took a series of precise and precisely timed steps not to evade or circumvent those mechanisms but rather to be scrupulously careful to comply with them,&rdquo; Whitaker said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Would you concede that the sequence of events here, and for me, they&rsquo;re unusual, would you concede that there are serious constitutional implications to your theory here, the government&rsquo;s theory, which really is a complete circumvention, it seems, of the appointments clause?&rdquo; a judge asked in response.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/constitution-conan\/article-2\/section-2\/clause-2\/overview-of-the-appointments-clause\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appointments clause<\/a> in Article II of the Constitution requires &ldquo;Officers of the United States&rdquo; to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, except that Congress may authorize certain other means of appointment for &ldquo;inferior Officers.&rdquo; (page 6 of opinion).<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration faces a similar battle in Virginia, where U.S. District Court Judge Cameron Currie, a Bill Clinton appointee, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/legal-expert-jonathan-turley-explains-comey-james-not-woods-yet-despite-cases-dismissed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruled<\/a> that Lindsey Halligan&rsquo;s appointment as interim U.S. attorney was defective and therefore dropped her office&rsquo;s charges against former FBI Director <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/breaking-federal-judge-throws-prosecutions-james-comey-letitia-james\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James Comey<\/a> and New York Attorney General Letitia James.<\/p>\n<p>Halligan, also a former Trump personal attorney, took over the U.S. attorney position from Erik Siebert, who was serving on an interim basis, with the approval of the judges from the Eastern District of Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>Axios noted federal judges have also ruled that the Trump DOJ&rsquo;s appointments of Sigal Chattah in Nevada and Bill Essayli in Los Angeles as interim U.S. attorneys are unlawful.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ can appeal the ruling against Habba either by seeking a review by the full panel of judges for the 3rd Circuit or by petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ]; 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Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Habba as an interim U.S. attorney, a role limited to 120 days. Later, President Donald Trump nominated Habba-his former personal lawyer-for the permanent position in June. However, since the Senate never acted on her nomination, Trump withdrew it on July 24, according to Axios<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2516188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DJT-with-Alina-Habba.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[33520,32324,32640],"class_list":["post-2516187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-alina-habba","tag-appeals-court","tag-trump-administration"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DJT-with-Alina-Habba.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2516187"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2516191,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516187\/revisions\/2516191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2516188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2516187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2516187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2516187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}