President Donald Trump‘s former personal attorney, Alina Habba, has been serving as the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey since March, despite being without Senate confirmation and a campaign by district judges who in July sought to replace her on the grounds she had not been confirmed before the standard 120-day interim period expired.
[NOTE: When the judges replaced her, Trump fired Habba’s replacement and re-appointed Habba as First Assistant U.S. Attorney. With no one in the official position above her, Habba was essentially returned to the top post.]
Habba appeared before an appeals court panel at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia today, concerning the Trump administration’s appeal of U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann’s decision that Habba “is not lawfully holding the office of United States Attorney.”
I just left court advocating on behalf of 26 U.S. Attorney candidates who have been denied the opportunity for a Senate hearing – effectively blocking their confirmation and blocking Congress’s ability to provide advice and consent. The continued invocation of blue slips, a…
— Alina Habba (@AlinaHabba) October 20, 2025
Habba, who believes there is “a politically motivated effort to impede the President’s constitutional authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys” wrote on X: “I just left court advocating on behalf of 26 U.S. Attorney candidates who have been denied the opportunity for a Senate hearing – effectively blocking their confirmation and blocking Congress’s ability to provide advice and consent.”
Habba added, “To date, I have not had so much as a single conversation with New Jersey Senators, despite repeated outreach.”
Note: Both of New Jersey’s Senators, Democrats Cory Booker and Andy Kim, have said that the process Trump used to keep Habba in place undermines the judiciary.
In a joint statement, Booker and Kim said: “While the Administration continues to defend its abuse of legal authority to keep Habba in power, federal criminal cases are now piling up with prosecutors unable to move forward or have their cases heard, including a triple homicide and cases involving weapons and drugs, leaving our communities without justice and making New Jerseyans less safe.”
Habba also claimed credit for a reduction of crime in New Jersey’s most populous city since she was appointed: “Since my arrival, Newark has seen a 20% reduction in crime. Camden recently experienced its first summer in 50 years without a single homicide. These outcomes are not accidental, and these numbers do not lie.”
The statistics Habba cites are part of a larger trend. According to the FBI, New Jersey’s crime rates dropped in 2024 after ticking up for two years following the COVID pandemic. The FBI also reports that “the Garden State has seen a big drop in violent crime over the past decades – especially from levels seen in the 1980s and 1990s.”