6 events in Passaic County with a date

Trump officials blames judges for 'confrontation' over Alina Habba

By: dana DeFilppo
New Jersey Monitor

WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania - a Trump administration official on August 15 [2025] accused federal judges in New Jersey of causing a constitutional crisis by rejecting the president's pick for U.S. attorney for New Jersey and ordering her top deputy to assume the post.
..... That was an "atypical decision," said attorney Henry C. Whitakler, who went on to blast the judges for not "collaborating" with Trump officials to ensure the top federal prosecutor job would go to someone both the administration and courts agree on.
...... "The district court initiated this constitutional confrontation that did not need to happen," said Whitaker, counselor to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
..... Whitaker's comments came toward the end of four hours of tedious arguments at the Herman T, Schneebeli Federal Building, where U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann joked he was tapped to take the case "for my sins." The issue before Brann was whether acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba has the authority to prosecute cases -given the ongoing tug-of-war over her job -as well as whether Trump and Bondi overstepped their authority in overriding the judges who refused to extend Habba's tumultuous tenure.
...... Whitaker's pronouncement irked Gerald Krovatin, one of the attorneys Gerald Krovatin, one of the attorneys seeking dismissals of their clients' criminal cases over questions about Habba's authority.
..... Krovatin angrily objected and countered that Trump cause a constitutional criss by :appointing someone who has not business begin U.S. attorney of New Jersey or anywhere else."
..... The court showdown came nearly five months after Trump appointed Habba, his former personal attorney, as interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey. The Senate did not confirm her within the 120-day window that federal law requires for presidential appointments, prompting a panel of federal judges from New Jersey to intervene.
..... In such scenarios, federal judges are authorized by law to extend an acting U.S. attorney;s tenure or name a replacement. During Trump's first term, they were driven to act after the Senate failed in 2018 to confirm Craig Carpenito, who then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions had appointed acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey. The judges unanimously appointed Carpento 112 days into his tenure.
..... But on July 22, [2025] a panel of federal judges facing a similar decision instead named Habba's top deputy, Desiree Leigh Grace, to the post. That so enraged Trump administration officials that they fired Grace and reinstated Habba, kicking off the ongoing legal battle that drew a small army of attorneys to this Lycoming County city best known as the home of the Little League World Series.
..... Brann said he expects to rule on the matter by August 20 or August 21, [2025] giving both sides until 5 PM. Monday to file any supplemental briefs. he agreed to expedite the case, pointing to the disruptions it's caused in federal courts in New Jersey.
..... "Are criminal prosecutions happening?" Branna asked.
..... "Not the way they normally would," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Coyne said.
..... Some judges have refused to arraign indicted defendants, adjourned trials, and transferred cases to other jurisdictions, said Whitaker and Coyne.
..... Brann urged Whitaker and Coyne to persuade Habba to recuse herself from cases while challenges to her authority remain unresolved.
..... "Boy, that's confusing to everybody," the judge said. "It's confusing to me.
..... But Whitaker said refusal is unnecessary because Bondi's office is "fully empowered to supervise the office."
..... Coyne objected to any pressure for recusing, citing a "dignity component" - although it wasn't clear whether he meant the recusal would offend the dignity of Habba, Trump, or someone else.
..... Ms. Habba is the person the president wishes to lead the office of the U.S. attorney for New Jersey," Whitaker said.
..... Earlier, attorneys spent several hours debating a dizzying army of court precedents, federal statutes, and even the verb tenses of language in various laws to make their case. Brann blitzed the attorneys with question so dense eh often stopped to ask: "do you understand my question?" and quipped, when silence met one such query: "Maybe I don't understand this. Which is entirely possible."Arguments centered on two federal laws governing executive-branch appointments that require Senate confirmation.
..... Attorneys challenging Habba's reappointment insist it's unconstitutional under the Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act, the 2007 law that contains the 120-day timeline and tasks federal judges with acting if that clock runs out without Senate action. Several Congress members who voted in favor of that act filed a brief this week [08/15/2025] exhorting Brann to respect the constitutionally mandated separation of powers that law was meant to codify.
..... But the attorneys fighting to keep Habba in the post said her reappointment should stand because it;s valid under the federal Vacancies Reform Act, a 1998 law that directs a vacant position's second-in-command to become the acting officer-in-charge fro up to 210 days. After Trump officials fired Grace, Habba resigned and Bondi named Habba first assistant U.S. attorney, essentially restoring her as acting U.S. attorney.
..... "There's little dispute that the present has the authority to remove even a district court appointee," Whitaker said.
..... Still, Krovatin warned that the executive branch wasn't meant to make successive appointments, under several federal laws.
..... Attorney Thomas Mirigliano, who represents an Irvington man challenging Habba's authority, called the Trump administration's use of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act "an end run around" the Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act.
..... "The president terminated the first assistant in order to backfill the role. Ms. Habba resigned to fill it herself,. It's circular," Mairigliano said.
..... Attorney James Pearce, representing the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, cited "larger anti-circumvention clause differentials between principal" officers, who are appointed by the president and require Senate confirmation, and "inferior officers," who don't require congressional approval.
..... Brann told the attorneys he expected neither side would like his ruling and said his exhaustive questioning would help "tee up" the case for a likely appeal before U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals judges.
..... He also warned that New Jersey's federal judges likely will have to learn to get along with Habba.
..... "It's very likely that Ms. Habba is going to be the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey," Brann said.

..... Editor's note: this story was originally punished by the New Jersey Monitor, for which Dana DeFilippo is a staff writer. The New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, the nation's largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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