Federal trial judges in New Jersey appointed Desiree Grace, first assistant in the state’s US attorney’s office, as interim head of the office, declining to extend the appointment of current temporary chief Alina Habba.
The appointment was announced by the District Court for the District of New Jersey in a Tuesday standing order signed by Chief Judge Renee Marie Bumb.
Habba, a former Trump personal defense attorney, has since late March served as the acting head of the New Jersey US attorney’s office. The office during her tenure brought high-profile cases against Democratic politicians and dismissed a long-running overseas corruption matter.
An interim US attorney can serve for no longer than 120 days after their appointment, under federal law. Once that appointment expires, a district court “may appoint a US attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled” on a permanent basis.
Habba was sworn in on March 28 as interim US attorney, which would give her just a few more days in the post.
Grace is a longtime prosecutor who’s served in the office since 2016, according to her Linkedin profile. She’s served as first assistant to the US attorney since April.
Trump on July 1 nominated Habba to be the full-time US attorney for New Jersey. But home state senators’ approval is needed for the pick to move forward under Senate custom.
Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, haven’t explicitly said they would block her nomination, but they said in a joint statement that Habba “does not meet the standard to serve.”
Habba worked as a defense attorney for Trump in some of his most high-profile legal fights prior to his return to the White House. Prior to being tapped to the position in New Jersey, she served a short stint as a counselor to the president.
Top Justice Department officials in recent days came to Habba’s defense. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a post on X Tuesday accused district judges of trying to “force” Habba out of her job.
“Their rush reveals what this was always about: a left-wing agenda, not the rule of law,” Blanche said. “When judges act like activists, they undermine confidence in our justice system. Alina is President Trump’s choice to lead—and no partisan bench can override that.”
Mike Davis, the leader of the conservative legal group, the Article III Project, threatened to file judicial misconduct complaints against judges on the New Jersey district court bench if they declined to extend Habba’s term.
“We’re seeing a precedent set in this Trump 47 administration where these Democrat activist judges whether they’re in New York or now New Jersey are trying to fire these US attorneys,” Davis said on former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon’s “War Room” show.
The New Jersey court declined to extend Habba’s appointment a week after judges in the Northern District of New York declined to exercise their authority to pick a US attorney for the district. The decision meant John Sarcone, the Trump administration’s interim US attorney pick in Albany, would be limited to a 120-day term.
But the Justice Department appointed Sarcone as “Special Attorney to the Attorney General” as well as the district’s “First Assistant U.S. Attorney” to bypass that restriction and keep him in the job.
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Wise in Washington at jwise@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editor: Seth Stern at sstern@bloomberglaw.com
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