The Federal judges ruled against her as the US Attorney and ANY effort to get around their thumbs down…
The judges are NOT having her holding the job like Trump tried to do against the wishes of the US Senate conformation process…
She joins another Trump unorthodox attempted Justice Dept. hiring to carry out his ‘revenge’ campaign…
A federal appeals court panel on Monday upheld Alina Habba’s disqualification as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, a blow to President Trump’s efforts to keep his preferred U.S. attorneys in their posts as their Senate confirmations stall.
The three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled unanimously that Habba, a former personal lawyer to Trump, is not lawfully serving as U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
The judges also barred her from serving in the role in an “acting” capacity, after the Trump administration created a work-around to keep her in place.
“It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place,” Judge D. Michael Fisher, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote for the panel.
Habba was disqualified in August after a federal judge determined she began unlawfully holding the post when her 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney expired and the administration took a “novel series of legal and personnel moves” to keep her in the job nonetheless. The ruling was put on hold so the Justice Department could appeal.
When the interim term ended in July, New Jersey federal judges declined to extend Habba’s temporary tenure, instead invoking a seldom-used power to appoint her first assistant U.S. attorney to the position….
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Habba had faced staunch opposition to her nomination from New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, making her confirmation unlikely. The Senate’s long-standing blue slips practice lets home-state senators veto presidential nominees to district courts and U.S. attorneys’ offices.
The judges further ruled that Habba may not remain acting U.S. attorney, contending that only the first assistant in place at the time the vacancy arose would automatically assume the functions and duties of the office. …
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She was the first of Trump’s loyalist interim U.S. attorneys to be disqualified. Three others have since followed: Sigal Chattah in the District of Nevada, Bill Essayli in the Central District of California and Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Halligan’s disqualification accompanied the dismissals of cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).
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