TRENTON — Alina Habba is back as the Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, just days after federal judges voted not to extend her 120-day term and installed her deputy as a replacement.
Habba, who served as former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, was notified last Tuesday that her interim tenure would end Friday, July 25, and that First Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace would take over under a standing judicial order. Habba resigned Thursday but was reappointed the next day to the top position by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Bondi announced the shake-up late Friday, removing Grace and installing Habba, her former deputy, back at the helm of the office.
In an interview Saturday on “The Benny Show,” Habba criticized the judicial vote that had ended her initial term. “They are missing a very important point, which is that the President of the United States picks the United States attorneys,” she said.
The process for selecting U.S. attorneys allows district court judges to appoint a replacement when the interim term expires without a Senate-confirmed nominee. But Bondi’s appointment of Habba as Grace’s superior effectively reversed the court’s decision.
“I’m still the Acting U.S. Attorney. I’m ready to rock and roll and get back to work,” Habba said in the interview. “This is just a lot of noise, and it’s unfortunate.”
The dispute reflects growing tension between the judiciary and executive officials over control of key federal law enforcement appointments in the absence of Senate confirmations.
“We’re supposed to do our job, which is to clean up crime … and instead, there’s been this political noise that really has no place in the Department of Justice,” Habba said.
The federal judiciary has not released a public statement on the matter.
