Judge rules trio replacing N.J. US attorney serving illegally under Trump

“One year into this administration, it is plain that President Trump and his top aides have chafed at the limits of their power set forth by the law and the Constitution,” U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote, though he immediately stayed his ruling, allowing the administration a chance to appeal.

Brann’s decision escalates a battle that has been brewing across the country and among all three branches of government over who has the ultimate authority over U.S. attorney picks.

Typically, U.S. attorneys, who have broad authority to oversee all federal criminal and civil cases in their districts, are nominated by the president and must be confirmed by the Senate. But Trump, facing pushback over some nominees, has adopted several legally questionable tactics to keep his unconfirmed picks serving in their roles.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not return requests for comment as of Monday evening. Habba, who left the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office in December and is now serving as a senior adviser to Bondi, called the judge’s latest decision “ridiculous.”

“Judges may continue to try and stop President Trump from carrying out what the American people voted for, but we will not be deterred,” she said in a post on X. “The unconstitutionality of this complete overreach into the Executive Branch, time and time again, will not succeed.”

Across the country, courts have disqualified a half-dozen of Trump’s picks to lead U.S. attorney’s offices on an interim or acting basis, finding that each had served well beyond the statutorily defined limits of their temporary appointments or were never legally appointed in the first place.

Bondi’s decision to name a trio of lawyers to replace Habba marked a new evolution of the administration’s strategy. The attorney general said Jordan Fox, a former adviser to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche; Ari Fontecchio, a career prosecutor in the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office; and Philip Lamparello, a senior counsel who came in under Habba, would each oversee aspects of what would normally be the U.S. attorney’s portfolio.

In splitting the job, the government argued, Bondi had found a way to legally delegate authority to subordinates of her choosing while getting around laws that said only a Senate-confirmed nominee or an appointee named through other legally valid means could oversee all aspects of the U.S. attorney’s job.