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Alina Habba signaled Thursday that she does not plan to leave her role as the temporary U.S. attorney of New Jersey, announcing she does “not cower” to pressure after federal judges voted against extending her term.
Habba, a former personal defense attorney to President Donald Trump, wrote in a statement online that she has been appointed the “acting” U.S. attorney, a shift from her prior job title.
“Donald J. Trump is the 47th President. Pam Bondi is the Attorney General. And I am now the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Habba wrote. “I don’t cower to pressure. I don’t answer to politics. This is a fight for justice. And I’m all in.”
A Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesman told Fox News Digital that Habba was now serving as the acting U.S. attorney, rather than the “interim” position that she previously held.
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The maneuvers by Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi to keep Habba as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey are governed by a set of arcane federal vacancy laws.
Those same laws also gave the New Jersey district court judges the authority to vote on whether to extend Habba’s 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney or to replace her. In a rare move, they chose to replace her with Habba’s No. 2, Desiree Grace, but Bondi promptly fired Grace, leaving open the question of who would take the role.
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The DOJ has said Habba’s term as “interim” U.S. attorney expires Friday. Fox News Digital learned that Habba resigned before that expiration day and that she was re-appointed as acting U.S. attorney, which has a 210-day term limit.
According to the judges’ appointment, Grace would take over come Saturday, but it is unclear if the judges’ vote is valid now given the changes to Habba’s job, and it is possible that the legal confusion could lead to a court fight.
Grace, a career prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office since 2016, wrote in a LinkedIn post after she was fired that it “has been the honor of a lifetime to represent the United States and to serve the people of New Jersey” and that she planned to be sworn in on Saturday.
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“Yesterday the District Judges for the District of New Jersey selected me to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Grace wrote. “It will forever be the greatest honor that they selected me on merit, and I’m prepared to follow that Order and begin to serve in accordance with the law.”
Trump has also nominated Habba to serve the full, four-year role as the permanent U.S. attorney, but that position requires Senate approval and Habba has no clear path to confirmation.
New Jersey’s two Democratic senators, Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, are currently holding up her nomination through the Senate’s “blue slip” tradition, and a person familiar with the matter said the Trump administration has not submitted any material for the Senate to vet Habba’s nomination in any case.
Booker said in a statement after Grace’s firing that the Trump administration has violated the law.
“The firing of a career public servant, lawfully appointed by the court, is another blatant attempt to intimidate anyone that doesn’t agree with them and undermine judicial independence,” Booker wrote on social media. “This Administration may not like the law, but they are not above it.”
Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.
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