The 3rd Circuit determined that Alina Habba, a former personal lawyer to Donald Trump, was unlawfully appointed as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey and disqualified her from supervising cases in a decision rebuking the president.
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based appeals court was the latest blow to Trump and his DOJ as they seek to install loyalists to oversee key U.S. attorney offices around the country.
The 3rd Circuit upheld U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann's ruling in August that the Trump administration violated a federal appointments law in naming Habba as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey. "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 wrote in the ruling. Read the opinion here.
The ruling is likely to impact scores of active federal criminal cases in New Jersey, forcing the DOJ to find a new prosecutor to supervise those cases. The administration could appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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