BREAKING: 3rd Circuit rejects bid to make Trump lawyer Alina Habba acting US attorney.

[In It to Win It]

BREAKING: 1st appeals court decision on controversial temporary US Attorney installations goes against Trump, 3-0. 3rd Circuit rejects bid to make Trump lawyer Alina Habba acting US attorney. Restrepo/ Smith/Fisher (Obama/GWB/GWB) Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein.bsky.social) 2025-12-01T14:00:41.472Z

#BREAKING: Ideologically diverse Third Circuit panel unanimously *affirms* district court ruling that Alina Habba was *not* lawfully appointed to serve as Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey *or* to otherwise exercise the functions of that office:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) 2025-12-01T14:20:37.219Z

[boonecreek]

1. Sooo much winning.

[OldBaldy1701E]

2. And here he comes talking about dissolving the courts in 3... 2... (n/t)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Alina Habba remains DISQUALIFIED as U.S. Attorney as Third Circuit affirms

This is not good news for Halligan

Link to tweet

[Prairie Gates]

6. They literally failed in every attempt at a loophole

They tried to say she has ascended to the position by virtue of being appointed First Assistant. Sorry, you have to have been First Assistant at the time of the vacancy in order to assume the position.

They tried to say she was installed as Acting US Attorney, even though she was nominated at the time. Sorry, but you can't rise to Acting US Attorney if you are nominated for the regular position that has become vacant, ironically because the nomination bar assures that the First Assistant assumes the position! (This is a screamer, since the first two loopholes they tried contradict each other!)

They tried to say that Bondi could simply delegate US Attorney powers to Habba. Wrong-o. The head of the DOJ can designate an Acting US Attorney, but not delegate power to them, and the designation fails according to loophole 2 above.



At least somebody wrote the Federal Vacancies Reform Act with these kinds of shenanigans in mind, and thank goodness, I guess, that there are still judges on the 3rd Circuit willing to apply black letter law.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Appeals court upholds disqualification of Alina Habba as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor

The ruling further stymies the Trump administration’s use of unusual tactics meant to quickly put or keep largely unqualified U.S. attorneys in place without Senate confirmation.

Read "Appeals court upholds disqualification of Alina Habba as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-6GX6rWX6/8...

— (@chitraraj.bsky.social) 2025-12-01T14:30:51.530Z

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/01/alina-habba-appeals-court-ruling-00671224

A panel of appeals court judges on Monday upheld the disqualification of Alina Habba, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, rejecting President Donald Trump’s use of unconventional methods to install loyalists atop U.S. attorney offices across the country.

“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 President George W. Bush, wrote in the 32-page opinion. “Its efforts to elevate its preferred candidate for U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, to the role of Acting U.S. Attorney demonstrate the difficulties it has faced — yet the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the U.S. Attorney’s Office deserve some clarity and stability.”

The ruling further stymies the Trump administration’s use of unusual tactics meant to quickly put or keep largely unqualified U.S. attorneys in place without Senate confirmation. Defendants are also challenging the authority of U.S. attorneys in California, Nevada, upstate New York and Virginia.

The Trump administration could appeal Monday’s ruling to the Supreme Court. Spokespeople for the Trump administration and Habba didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

In August, a lower-court judge ruled that Habba is serving unlawfully, and judges have subsequently made the same determination regarding the Trump-picked prosecutors in Nevada and the Los Angeles-area. Last week, a judge disqualified top federal prosecutor Lindsey Halligan in the eastern district of Virginia and tossed the politically charged cases she brought against Trump’s political enemies: former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

[onenote]

5. Unanimous opinion: one Obama judge, two GW Bush judges.

[iluvtennis]

7. Excellent! n/t

[EuterpeThelo]

8. Wow

Glad to see not EVERY judge GWB appointed is a complete grifting lunatic hell-bent on destroying our country (Roberts, Alito).

[johnnyplankton]

9. Now do the beauty contestant runner-up

[milestogo]

10. She'll have to go back to being a Republican Barbie Doll.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. Deadline Legal Blog-Appeals court upholds Alina Habba's disqualification as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor

The Supreme Court could have the last word on the subject that affects Trump-installed federal prosecutors around the country.

Appeals court upholds Alina Habba’s disqualification as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor. The Supreme Court could have the last word on the subject that affects Trump-installed federal prosecutors around the country. www.ms.now/deadline-whi...

— (@jwwcan.bsky.social) 2025-12-01T15:05:52.126Z

https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/alina-habba-disqualification-us-attorney-appeal

A federal district judge was correct to disqualify Alina Habba as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, an appellate panel ruled Monday, dealing the Trump administration its latest loss on an issue that’s pending in U.S. attorney’s offices around the country.

The Supreme Court could have the last word on the subject, which affects federal prosecutors installed by the administration who haven’t been confirmed by the Senate and whose tenures have been challenged as illegal by criminal defendants.

“It is apparent that the current administration has been frustrated by some of the legal and political barriers to getting its appointees in place,” the panel observed in disapproving of the attempt to install Habba.

Another Trump-installed prosecutor whose tenure is in doubt is Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia. She lacked prosecutorial experience and was placed in that office to secure indictments of Donald Trump’s political opponents over the objections of career prosecutors. Halligan, who brought charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, was recently deemed by another federal district judge to have been unlawfully appointed. The Trump administration said it will appeal that ruling......

The administration’s promised appeal of Halligan’s disqualification in Virginia would fall under a different federal circuit (the Fourth). When different federal circuits rule differently on an issue, that makes it more likely that the Supreme Court will step in to resolve a conflict if asked to do so. The legal issues surrounding Habba’s and Halligan’s appointments aren’t exactly the same but there is overlap. The appointment issue has also been litigated on the other side of the country in federal districts in California and Nevada, where judges have likewise disapproved of the administration’s attempts to bypass Senate approval of top federal prosecutors. Those western states fall under the Ninth Circuit.

Though the appellate ruling in Habba’s case came first, the administration may be even more eager to revive Halligan as the top federal prosecutor in Virginia. Unlike in the appeal in Habba’s case, the judge in Comey and James’ challenge not only said that Halligan was unlawfully serving but that the indictments she brought against those Trump targets must be dismissed as a result.

This will be fun to watch

[Takket]

12. Good. We need actual lawyers prosecuting crimes. Not parking ticket rookies

[Iggo]

13. Maybe if he nominated good lawyers instead of terrible ones.

I know. I know. That plan is waaay out there. But it just might work!

[bluesbassman]

14. It appears that particular commodity is pretty thin.

Not a whole lot of good lawyers want to hitch their wagons to that shitshow. Hence the preponderance of ambulance chasers and shysters in the Felon47 orbit.

[Grins]

15. Another fail. Until her disbarment is decided she can go back to heading NJ's ace team of parking garage lawyers

Failed on E. Jean Carroll v. Trump.
Failed on State of NY v. Trump.
Filed a 'Show Cause' where she signed where the Judge was supposed to sign.
Failed to make objections in the Carroll case thus blocking any appeal by Trump should he get competent counsel.
Failed to check the box demanding a jury trial.
Failed and got herself - and Trump - fined $937,989.39. for filing a frivolous lawsuit against Hillary Clinton.
Called crimes of espionage, 'mundane.'
Mocked by other attorney's as "cuckoo pants."
And now loses TWICE in TWO different courts in New Jersey.

What rational person looking for an attorney, would look at her and her history and think, "Yeah! I want her!!!"

[MarineCombatEngineer]

16. The Ketchup is flying today, not only in the WH,

but probably at AG Blondi's office and former US Attorney for the New Jersey district.

[BradBo]

17. A small victory. Habba's gonna go nuclear. She should go to prison.