Bypassing Habba, Judges in New Jersey Name New Top Federal Prosecutor

New York|Bypassing Habba, Judges in New Jersey Name New Top Federal Prosecutor

A panel of federal judges in New Jersey on Tuesday rejected Alina Habba’s bid to stay in the job as the state’s U.S. attorney and instead invoked a rarely used power to select a candidate of their own to take over as the state’s top federal prosecutor.

The judges announced that they had appointed Desiree Leigh Grace, an experienced prosecutor whom Ms. Habba named as her first assistant soon after she took over as interim U.S. attorney in March. The appointment is effective as of Tuesday or, alternately, upon the expiration of the 120 days of Ms. Habba’s term, according to an order signed by the district’s chief judge, Renée Marie Bumb.

That wording reflected a lack of clarity as to when Ms. Habba’s 120-day term expires. President Trump named her on March 24, saying her ascension to the post was “effective immediately” — suggesting that her term expired on Tuesday. But Ms. Habba was sworn in at the White House four days later. Counting from that date, she may still have several days in her post.

The deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, in a social media post, suggested as much, writing that the district court judges were “trying to force out” Ms. Habba “before her term expires at 11:59 p.m. Friday.”

Apparently ignoring that the judges had indicated that they were unsure as to when Ms. Habba’s term ended, Mr. Blanche accused them of executing “a left-wing agenda.”

“When judges act like activists, they undermine confidence in our justice,” he said.

Judge Bumb was nominated by former President George W. Bush, a Republican, in 2006 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.