Alina Habba resigns as acting US attorney for New Jersey after a court ruled her appointment unlawful, the second such ruling against a Trump appointee
NEW YORK: A former personal lawyer to US President Donald Trump resigned as a top federal prosecutor on Monday.
Alina Habba announced her resignation as acting US attorney for the District of New Jersey in a statement on X.
“I have decided to step down,” Habba said.
She added, “But do not mistake compliance for surrender. This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me.”
Her resignation follows a federal appeals court ruling last week that her appointment violated the law regarding the filling of federal vacancies.
Federal prosecutors are subject to Senate confirmation, and New Jersey’s two Democratic senators had opposed her nomination.
It was the second time in a week that a federal court ruled a US attorney picked by Trump was unlawfully appointed.
In a separate case, a judge disqualified Lindsey Halligan from serving as acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
That judge also threw out indictments Halligan obtained against Trump foes James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The judge ruled Halligan was unlawfully appointed because her predecessor was also serving in an acting capacity.
US law does not allow for two successive interim prosecutors.
The Trump administration’s appointments of interim US attorneys in California and Nevada have also faced legal challenges.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the court ruling in Habba’s case made her position “untenable.”
Bondi criticised “politicized judges pausing trials designed to bring violent criminals to justice.”
“These judges should not be able to countermand the President’s choice of attorneys,” Bondi said in a statement.
She announced that Habba would join the Justice Department as a senior advisor overseeing US attorneys nationwide. – AFP
