Showing that a rotten pick for U.S. attorney is a rotten pick, yesterday, a federal judge ruled that Alina Habba, who Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi had tried to keep atop the U.S. attorney’s office for New Jersey after a panel of federal judges had rejected her permanent appointment, was not only unlawfully occupying the position but had been doing so for more than a month and a half now.
This entire sequence of events is a perfect encapsulation of Trump‘s governing vision and general ethos. He picks a former parking garage attorney who happened to represent him personally at a time when he was radioactive, and, of course, values that loyalty well above any relevant experience or training.
He bypasses the systems that be to install her as a U.S. attorney — one of the most powerful roles in our judicial system — not even putting her up for Senate confirmation, with the expectation that she’ll be an attack dog rather than an impartial prosecutor. She delivers by bringing a spurious indictment against a Democratic congresswoman.
Then, when a panel of federal judges exercises the legal right to remove her, the administration engages in sleight-of-hand machinations — firing the new acting head and appointing Habba again — to override the authority that’s supposed to belong to another branch of government.
In the meantime, as all of this has been unfolding, plea hearings and sentencings are canceled and grand juries are not being invoked for indictments, over confusion about who’s leading the office. So, Trump‘s insistence that this particular loyalist head this prosecutorial office is not only improper, but actually harming the cause of public safety in New Jersey as regular prosecutorial and judicial functions are not taking place.
This insistence is confusing at least in part because the Senate, with its razor-thin GOP majority, seems perfectly willing to push through Trump nominees left and right. The fact that Trump has not even tried to get his sycophantic majority to give the rubber stamp for Habba indicates the extent to which she is a joke.
The ruling should also serve as a warning to John A. Sarcone III, who is purporting to serve as the interim U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, upstate, through a similar mechanism — a panel of judges rejected his continued appointment and the administration responded with a procedural trick to have him stay on, even though he does not technically carry the title.
If Habba’s appointment was unlawful, Sarcone’s is pretty likely to be unlawful as well.
Meanwhile in Manhattan, Trump‘s maneuvering has led to turmoil, too, including the departure of several prosecutors and former interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon after the Justice Department instructed them to drop charges against Mayor Adams in a deal criticized as being a quid pro quo to let Adams off the hook if he aided Trump on immigration. At least here, though, a panel of judges signed off on interim U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to remain as head of the office.
Perhaps Trump would not have quite as much trouble getting his selections to receive judicial sign off if he simply picked qualified candidates like Clayton as opposed to loyalist clowns such as Habba and Sarcone. Better yet, maybe he should follow the Constitution and at least attempt to get the Senate to confirm some of his picks, even if that hampers his ability to use them as political warriors.
