By Katie Sobko, NorthJersey.com

Just days after a federal judge ruled that Alina Habba has unlawfully served as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, the federal government has formally appealed the decision.

The filing means the case will now head to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Habba has not gone quietly, though. She appeared on Fox News over the weekend to talk about the process used by the U.S. Senate to approve judicial nominations.

A tradition known as “blue slips” makes it possible for senators to block judicial and U.S. attorney nominees in their home states from advancing.

She took aim at the two New Jersey senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both of whom have criticized Habba’s nomination.

“Senator Booker and Senator Kim had absolutely every right to vote no for me for the U.S. attorney position, but I had the right as the nominee to get in front of the Senate and to be voted on, to be vetted. I never even got there. Of course not. I was, according to them, unqualified,” Habba said. “Look at Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ tweet. Because I arrested a congresswoman for a charge of assaulting a police officer. And you know what? I stand by my work as the U.S. attorney, and I won’t be intimidated by this type of political rhetoric.”

The arrest Habba cited is that of Rep. LaMonica McIver in relation to the incident at Delaney Hall in Newark in May. McIver, along with Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez visited to inspect the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainments happening at the site.

Trump picks a losing fight with the longest-serving GOP senator

Chuck Grassley was first elected to Congress in 1974 and won his Senate seat in 1980. Over half a century on Capitol Hill, the Iowa Republican has been in the minority party about a year longer than in the majority. Grassley’s experience in and out of power underscores why he is leading the Senate GOP’s resistance to escalating pressure from President Donald Trump to abandon an important tradition called the blue slip.

The senatorial courtesy gives deference to home-state senators on a president’s picks for U.S. attorney and district courts. If both senators from a state oppose a nominee, they refuse to return a colored form — literally a blue slip — and that person does not get a vote. For more than a century, this has been central to how the Senate performs its constitutional duty to advise and consent on nominees. It has incentivized presidents in both parties to solicit input from the opposition and elevated mainstream picks over extremists.

Read the full Washington Post story here

NJ Spotlight News coverage

Professor Jacob Elberg, of Seton Hall Law School and a former assistant attorney in New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney’s office, spoke with NJ Spotlight News about the ruling and its potential impact on federal prosecutions in New Jersey.

Who is Alina Habba? (Source: Wikipoedia)

Alina Saad Habba (Arabic: ألينا حبة, born March 25, 1984) is an American lawyer and political advisor who has served as the acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey since March 2025; her continued tenure since July 2025 is disputed, and was voided by a judge, though he stayed his order.^[2] Habba previously served as a counselor to the president. From 2021 to 2025, she was a legal spokesperson for President Donald Trump and a senior advisor for MAGA, Inc., Trump’s super PAC.^[3][4]

She is also a managing partner of Habba, Madaio & Associates, a law firm based in Bedminster, New Jersey, with an office in New York City.^[5] In December 2024, Trump named Habba as his counselor to the president.

Early life and education

Habba and her two siblings were born in Summit, New Jersey. Their parents were Chaldean Catholics who emigrated from Iraq to the United States in the early 1980s to escape persecution in their home country.^[6][7] Her father, Saad F. Habba, is a gastroenterologist.^[8] Habba graduated from Kent Place School in 2002. She attended Lehigh University, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.^[8][9]

Between 2005 and 2007, Habba worked in the fashion industry in accessories production and marketing with executives at Marc Jacobs. According to her, though she enjoyed the fashion industry, she decided to attend law school for financial reasons.^[8] She obtained a Juris Doctor from the Widener University Commonwealth Law School in 2010.^[10][11]

Law career

After completing law school, Habba served as a law clerk to Eugene J. Codey Jr., then-Presiding Judge of the Civil Superior Court in Essex County, New Jersey, from 2010 to 2011.^[12][13] Habba began private practice in September 2011, when she joined as an associate at Tompkins, McGuire, Wachenfeld & Barry, LLP, where she worked from September 2011 to February 2013. From February 2013 to March 2020, she was an equity partner and the Managing Partner of Sandelands Eyet LLP, a seven-attorney firm formed by her then-husband in 2013.^[14][15][16] In March 2020, Habba left to start her own firm. The firm, Habba, Madaio, and Associates LLP, employs five people.^[8] Along with the firm’s Bedminster, New Jersey office, Habba has an office in Manhattan.^[17][18]

Habba is licensed to practice law in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.^[12][19] She has served as lead counsel for three cases, including a federal class action suit against a New Jersey nursing home accused of various negligent acts and consumer fraud violations.^[17] Habba has also held the position of general counsel for her second husband’s parking garage company.^[17] She has represented clients in various legal cases, including a man suing a nursing home in New Jersey,^[20] and a student seeking a refund for college tuition after the University of Bridgeport moved classes to an online format.^[21][22]

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