U.S. Attorney Alina Habba has reportedly told staff members in New Jersey that her term as a federal prosecutor in the state will end Tuesday, as she will not be backed on Monday when New Jersey’s U.S. District Court judges meet and could vote for her replacement.
Habba’s 120-day limit for appointments made by the U.S. attorney general comes to an end on Tuesday, and the judges could potentially pick between two Republican candidates, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace and former U.S. District Court Judge Noel Lawrence, reports the New Jersey Globe on Friday.
Newsmax has reached out to Habba’s office for comment on the report.
Grace would become acting U.S. attorney, if the judges do not take action, until the judges either vote or the Senate confirms Habba.
On July 1, President Donald Trump nominated Habba, one of his former attorneys, for a full term, but New Jersey’s senators, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., have said they will not sign off on her appointment.
It has not been made clear whether Trump will withdraw Habba’s nomination.
Meanwhile, if the judges vote in a new U.S. attorney, only Trump, not Attorney General Pam Bondi, would have the authority to remove their choice.
But if the judges don’t vote, Grace could hold the office for up to 210 days.
During Trump’s first term, Craig Carpenito served as acting U.S. attorney in early 2018, and after that, the federal judges appointed him. Trump never formally nominated Carpenito, but he was the president’s choice for the job.
Booker, during Bondi’s confirmation hearing in January, said that he had objected to Carpenito’s nomination but admitted he was “wrong in my anticipation” that he would not perform well.
“He partnered with local leaders like those in Newark, New Jersey, to dramatically drive down crime,” said Booker. “He was good for the safety of the city in which I live and the one that I led.”
Meanwhile, Habba has been backed by top law enforcement leaders across the country, even while Booker and Kim oppose her nomination, reports the New York Post.
Habba has gotten the backing of the National Troopers Coalition, the National Association of Police Organizations, and the National Police Defense Foundation since Trump nominated her in March.
The National Association of Police Organizations, representing more than a quarter-million sworn law enforcement officers, commended Habba for her “efforts to go after and prosecute gang and drug crime,” Senate Judiciary Committee leaders said earlier this week.
But Booker and Kim, in a joint statement after Trump nominated her, said that the people of their state “deserve a U.S. attorney that has deep experience with law enforcement, a reputation and an approach that puts partisanship to the side, and who will work to keep our communities safe and impartially pursue justice.”
Habba, they added, “in her short tenure as an interim U.S. attorney, she has degraded the office and pursued frivolous and politically motivated prosecutions.”
It is customary for senators to meet with the nominees for U.S. attorney in their states, but neither Booker nor Kim has met with Habba.
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