23-07-2025
Alina Habba out as acting US Attorney; DOJ removes judges' replacement
New Jersey's U.S. District court judges have opted not to extend acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba's term.
As acting attorney, Habba's term was limited to just 120 days but the state's district court judges could have voted to allow her to retain the post beyond that.
Instead, as of July 22, they have chosen to appoint Desiree Leigh Grace to the role effective July 22 or 'upon the expiration of 120 days' of Habba's appointment, whichever is later. Habba was appointed on March 24 by President Donald Trump.
But hours after the decision was made public, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on social media that Grace had been "removed effective immediately" because they alleged the decision of the judges would "threaten" and "undermine" the president.
What's happened on Alina Habba's watch?
Habba's tenure has been tumultuous at best. During her roughly four months in the role, she arrested two Democratic elected officials, may have subpoenaed the governor and announced an investigation into the state's attorney general.
After Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested May 9 by immigration agents, she had charges pressed that accused him of trespassing at Newark's Delaney Hall.
Those charges were dropped weeks later, but Rep. LaMonica McIver was then indicted and still faces for allegedly "assaulting, resisting and impeding" Homeland Security investigators and ICE agents.
The freshman congresswoman has said she was there with fellow Reps. Bonnie Watson-Coleman and Rob Menendez on May 9 to "inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district."
"We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short," she said. "The charges against me are purely political — they mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight."
Habba also expressed interest in investigating Gov. Phil Murphy and state Attorney General Matthew Platkin during a cable news appearance in April.
She said she instructed her office to open an investigation into Murphy and Platkin for not cooperating with federal immigration authorities, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Earlier: President Donald Trump nominates Alina Habba for full four-year U.S. attorney term for NJ
Did Habba subpoena Gov. Phil Murphy?
Murphy may have been subpoenaed for an investigation into comments he made at an event in Montclair back in February.
The governor suggested that he was harboring an undocumented person in a garage at his home and that he dared federal immigration agents to "try to get her."
Murphy said at the time that he and his wife had been discussing "someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to. And we said, 'You know what? Let's have her live at our house above our garage, and good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her.'"
The Murphy administration later clarified that the person the governor was referring to had legal status but was concerned that she might get swept up in Trump's immigration crackdown.
They also declined to comment after reports circulated that Murphy had been subpoenaed.
Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@
This article originally appeared on Alina Habba out as U.S. Attorney for NJ
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