Lawyers blast DOJ's extreme defense of Alina Habba's acting U.S. attorney authority, warn hundreds of cases are at stake

Source: Law & Crime

Jul 30th, 2025, 5:20 pm


An organization that exists to support New Jersey criminal defense lawyers wants to weigh in against the Trump administration DOJ's "extreme" legal position for reinstalling Alina Habba as acting U.S. attorney for the Garden State, claiming hundreds of pending cases are at stake as her authority remains in question.

The letter from the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey's (ACDL-NJ) seeking permission to participate in the case of Julien Giraud Jr. as an amicus curiae — Latin for friend of the court — asserted that criminal defendants in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey may be "entitled" to an order from Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann "preventing" Habba "from supervising their cases in any manner" if her appointment is, in fact, "unlawful," as the accused drug trafficker Giraud's attorney has claimed.

The DOJ's cited legal rationale, the lawyers say, is "extreme" and cannot seriously contend that an individual illegally serving as acting U.S. attorney could at the same time be legally authorized to supervise the whole office pursuant to her dual status as a "Special Attorney to the United States Attorney General."

"Our members collectively represent hundreds of defendants in the District of New Jersey whose cases will be directly affected by the Court's ruling," the proposed friend of the court argued. "Our members and their clients have a critical interest in this matter because the government has staked out an extreme position: that even if Ms. Habba's appointment is invalid under the Constitution or federal statutes, she nonetheless has unfettered power to continue to 'supervise' every single one of the hundreds of cases pending in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey."

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/nj-criminal-defense-lawyers-slam-habbas-legal-position-in-defense-of-her-authority-as-extreme-and-want-to-weigh-in/