WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department on Monday indicated it would appeal a judge’s ruling barring Alina Habba, a former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, from supervising federal cases as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.
Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann of the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Thursday found that Habba was unlawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, deeming improper a series of procedural maneuvers the Trump administration undertook to extend her 120-day interim tenure.
The ruling, which prevented Habba from overseeing criminal cases brought by the U.S. attorney’s office, has thrown hundreds of active criminal cases in New Jersey into doubt. Federal District Court judges in New Jersey previously declined to extend Habba’s interim term and instead named her top deputy as her successor.
The Trump administration then fired that official, Desiree Grace, and preemptively removed her as U.S. attorney, seeking to reinstall Habba as the acting U.S. attorney. Brann found that those moves violated U.S. laws governing federal appointments.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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