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The three attorneys who lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey are disqualified from serving, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
Chief Judge Matthew Brann’s blistering decision, which he stayed pending appeal, marks the latest salvo in a yearlong fight over who oversees the office of New Jersey’s chief prosecutor. The three attorneys who now oversee the office were appointed soon after Brann in August disqualified Alina Habba, a personal attorney for President Trump, from serving as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney.
In a 130-page opinion released Monday, Brann harkened back to the principles that underpinned the nation’s founding and rebuked the Trump administration for efforts to circumvent them by installing unconfirmed leaders after the U.S. Senate failed to act to confirm Habba.
“One year into this administration, it is plain that President Trump and his top aides have chafed at the limits on their power set forth by law and the Constitution,” Brann wrote.
If the stay is lifted, Brann’s ruling would disqualify senior counsel Philip Lamparello, executive assistant U.S. attorney Ari Fontecchio, and special attorney Jordan Fox. The trio has led the office since Habba resigned in December after first Brann and then an appeals court found she had “no lawful authority” to run the office.
The Trump administration, the judges found, had attempted to circumvent the separation of powers and senatorial advise and consent by installing Habba and seeking to keep her in the position after the time period allowed to temporary appointees expired.
The administration sought to do much the same by installing the triumvirate after Habba’s departure, Brann found.
“The Government assembles a convoluted patchwork of statutory cross-references to craft a leadership structure that it contends can do anything a United States Attorney can, without being a United States Attorney,” he wrote.
Habba, who is an adviser to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, criticized the ruling on social media as “rificulous.”
“The unconstitutionality of this complete overreach into the Executive Branch, time and time again, will not succeed. They would rather have no U.S. Attorney than safety for the people of NJ. Judges do not fire DOJ officials, AG Pam Bondi and POTUS do — get in line,” Habba wrote.
The challenge to the leadership trio was filed by Raheel Naviwala, a Florida man awaiting sentencing after being convicted last February of defrauding roughly $100 million from Medicare and other insurers, and Daniel Torres, who courts found was unlawfully indicted by Habba.
Trump’s U.S. attorney choices have stalled in multiple states. U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, opposed Habba’s nomination, which helped prevent it from advancing.
“This division of power means that the President may not always be able to appoint his first choice to a specific office, and he may sometimes have to wait for the Senate to act, which can take time. But that is the point of this divided authority, not a defect,” Brann wrote.
Brann warned he would toss cases if the administration tried to install another U.S. attorney without the approval of the U.S. Senate.
“The Government is warned that any further attempts to unlawfully fill the office will result in dismissals of pending cases,” he said.
by Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Monitor
New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: [email protected].
