Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced that she is resigning from her position after a federal appeals court found she was disqualified from her role.
“As a result of the Third Circuit’s ruling, and to protect the stability and integrity of the office which I love, I have decided to step down in my role as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Habba said in a statement. “But do not mistake compliance for surrender. This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me.”
“My fight will now stretch across the country,” she continued. “As we wait for further review of the court’s ruling, I will continue to serve the Department of Justice as the Senior Advisor to the Attorney General for U.S. Attorneys.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said she is “saddened to accept Alina’s resignation.”
“The court’s ruling has made it untenable for her to effectively run her office, with politicized judges pausing trials designed to bring violent criminals to justice,” Bondi wrote, adding, “The Department of Justice will seek further review of this decision, and we are confident it will be reversed. Alina intends to return to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey if this occurs.”
“It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit wrote in its December 1 ruling. “Its efforts to elevate its preferred candidate for U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, to the role of Acting U.S. Attorney demonstrate the difficulties it has faced—yet the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the U.S. Attorney’s Office deserve some clarity and stability.”
“Habba is not the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey by virtue of her appointment as First Assistant U.S. Attorney because only the first assistant in place at the time the vacancy arises automatically assumes the functions and duties of the office under the [Federal Vacancies Reform Act],” the court added. “Additionally, because Habba was nominated for the vacant U.S. Attorney position, the FVRA’s nomination bar prevents her from assuming the role of Acting U.S. Attorney.”
