(WASHINGTON) -- A federal appeals court on Monday disqualified President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Alina Habba from serving as the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court decision that found her appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Trump nominated Habba to the U.S. attorney post but she was not confirmed by the Senate. When district court judges declined to appoint her to the position, the administration installed her by formally withdrawing her nomination then placing her in a role that allowed her to serve in the position, in what a U.S. district judge called a "novel series of legal and personnel moves."
The appeals court ruled the maneuver was improper.
"Habba is not the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey by virtue of her appointment as First Assistant U.S. Attorney because only the first assistant in place at the time the vacancy arises automatically assumes the functions and duties of the office under the FVRA," the court wrote, referring to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
"Additionally, because Habba was nominated for the vacant U.S. Attorney position, the FVRA's nomination bar prevents her from assuming the role of Acting U.S. Attorney. Finally, the Attorney General's delegation of all the powers of a U.S. Attorney to Habba is prohibited by the FVRA's exclusivity provision," the opinion said.
New Jersey's two senators, both Democrats, lauded the decision, saying it "vindicates concerns we have long raised about the extraordinary and unlawful steps taken by the Trump Administration to keep Habba in office without Senate confirmation."
"The Court's ruling underscores a simple but fundamental principle: U.S. Attorneys must be independent and installed consistent with the rule of law, not because of their political loyalty or through political maneuvering," said the joint statement from Sens. Andy Kim and Cory Booker. "The Trump Administration's attempt to bypass clear legal requirements to install a loyalist undermined the legitimacy of the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey and cast a shadow over the cases she oversaw."
Monday's ruling marks the first time a federal appeals court has ruled against the Trump administration's attempt to keep interim U.S. attorneys in their posts after their temporary appointments lapse, potentially resulting in nationwide implications for federal prosecutors installed in the same way as Habba.
"The court's decision affirms that U.S. Attorney Alina Habba is unlawfully and invalidly serving as the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey, marking the first time an appeals court has ruled that President Trump cannot usurp longstanding statutory and constitutional processes to insert whomever he wants in these positions," attorneys Abbe Lowell, Gerry Krovatin and Norm Eisen, who argued for Habba's dismissal, said in a joint statement. "We will continue to challenge President Trump's unlawful appointments of purported U.S. Attorneys wherever appropriate."
After Habba's interim appointment expired and the district court sought to put in a new top prosecutor, the Trump administration placed her in a lower position -- First Assistant U.S. Attorney -- that allowed her to assume the top job once her original nomination was withdrawn.
In a 3-0 decision, the appeals court concluded that Habba's original nomination for the U.S. attorney position barred her from assuming the acting job. The court also rejected the argument that the attorney general has the power to delegate the powers of U.S. attorney to Habba.
The ruling from the three-judge panel -- composed of two judges put on the bench by George W. Bush and one by Joe Biden -- comes on the heels of a high-profile decision last week disqualifying Trump's handpicked prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, who had brought criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.