After a three-month battle over the legality of her appointment, Alina Habba resigned from her position as acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
He announced his resignation as federal prosecutor in a social media post on Monday. She will continue to serve as “Senior Advisor to the Attorney General for U.S. Attorneys.”
The resignation comes after a protracted legal fight over whether he could serve as federal prosecutor without Senate confirmation.
In August, a federal judge ruled that she held the position “without legal authority” and disqualified her as the top federal law enforcement official in New Jersey. A federal appeals court unanimously upheld that decision last week, and the Justice Department has not appealed that decision.
“As a result of the Third Circuit’s ruling, and to protect the stability and integrity of the office I love, I have decided to resign from my position as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Habba said in his statement. “But don’t confuse compliance with surrender. This decision will not weaken the Department of Justice and it will not weaken me.”
“Following the Third Circuit’s erroneous decision that disqualified Alina Habba from serving in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey, I am saddened to accept Alina’s resignation,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will seek further review of this decision and we are confident that it will be overturned. Alina intends to return to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey if this occurs.”
Despite the rulings, Habba remained in office after Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed her “Special Counsel to the Attorney General,” although several judges delayed the proceedings to consider the legality of her position.
Alina Habba attends her swearing-in as Acting United States Attorney General for New Jersey, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 28, 2025.
AP
Before being appointed federal prosecutor, Habba served as President Donald Trump’s personal defense attorney in his civil fraud case and defamation lawsuits in New York. Last month, a federal appeals court upheld a $1 million fine against Habba and Trump for filing a frivolous lawsuit against former FBI Director James Comey and Hillary Clinton.
The Trump administration has faced increasing obstacles in its efforts to install Trump loyalists as top prosecutors in U.S. attorney’s offices across the country, suffering a series of court defeats as judges express concerns that they are actively ignoring the law.
Last month, a judge dismissed both criminal cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after determining that Lindsey Halligan, a former insurance lawyer and White House aide with no prosecutorial experience, was illegally appointed to head the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
While Bondi previously said the administration would appeal that ruling, no appeal had been filed as of Monday, and last week a grand jury rejected an attempt by the administration to revive its case against James.
A growing chorus of judges in the Eastern District of Virginia have expressed concern that the administration appears to be defying the order that disqualified Halligan by continuing to include his signature and title in legal filings.
On Monday morning, Attorney General Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a joint statement attacking the judges for questioning Halligan’s legitimacy in office, accusing them of “engaging in an unconscionable campaign of bias and hostility.”
“Lindsey and our attorneys are simply doing their jobs: advocating for the Department of Justice’s positions while following the guidance of the Office of Legal Counsel,” the statement said. “They do not deserve to have their reputation questioned in court for ethically defending their client. This Department of Justice does not tolerate undemocratic judicial activism.”
