Getty ImagesAlina Habba, the former personal lawyer of US President Donald Trump, has resigned as New Jersey's top prosecutor following a legal battle over her eligibility to serve as US attorney.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi accepted Hubba's resignation on Monday, saying the court's “misguided” decision made it “impossible for her to effectively run her office.”
Hubba's departure comes a week after a U.S. appeals court found that she served unlawfully as a U.S. attorney, a decision that will likely affect scores of criminal cases in the Garden State.
Bondi said Hubba will remain at the Justice Department as a senior adviser and will seek further review of the decision in hopes of having it overturned.
Trump selected Hubba to serve as U.S. attorney this year, but after a district court rejected her nomination, the Trump administration installed it in the role this allowed her to act on an acting basis.
Appellate judges last week said the temporary placement, which has not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate, violates the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
In a statement released by X, Habba said she decided to resign “to protect the stability and integrity of the office I love” in light of the court's decision.
“But don’t confuse consent with capitulation,” she wrote, saying she would serve as Bondi’s adviser to U.S. attorneys. “My fight will now spread to the entire country.”
Bondi wrote on X that judges “should not be able to override the president's selection of lawyers charged with carrying out the executive branch's primary duty of prosecuting crimes.”
The attorney general praised Hubba's achievements and said that during her speech, the state capital of Newark saw its crime rate drop by 20% and the city of Camden experience its first homicide-free summer in 50 years.
Habba, 41 years old, first joined Trump's personal legal team in 2021 after reportedly meeting him at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Last year, she represented Trump in his hush-money trial in New York while he was convicted on 34 counts about falsification of business documents. Trump appealed the verdict.
Before Hubba took on the role of U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Trump announced he was appointing her as his presidential adviser during his second administration, calling Hubba “unwavering in her loyalty” and a “tireless advocate for justice.”
Several other U.S. attorneys appointed by Trump have been found to have served illegally, primarily because their appointments bypass confirmation by the Senate, the legislative branch of government that traditionally appoints U.S. attorneys.
At the White House on Monday, Trump echoed Hubba and Bondi's frustrations with the “blue check,” a process that allows home-state senators to signal whether they approve or disapprove of judicial nominees, which was originally intended as a courtesy to ensure presidential cooperation.
“I cannot appoint a U.S. attorney who is not a Democrat,” he said. “That means I think I'll just have to keep appointing people for three months and then just appoint another one, another one. And this is a very sad situation. We're losing a lot of money, we're losing a lot of great people.”
He said seven lawyers would not be able to serve as U.S. attorneys because of the blue slip.
Last month, another of Trump's personal lawyers, Lindsey Halligan, was disqualified from her post in Virginia because her appointment violated the statute governing interim U.S. attorneys.
In October, a California federal judge also ruled that acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli was unlawfully serving in the Central District of California.
In September, a Nevada judge issued a similar ruling against Sigal Chattah in that state, but stayed her disqualification pending an appeal.
Additional reporting by Grace Eliza Goodwin
