Appeals court panel appears skeptical of Trump admin's maneuvers to keep Alina Habba in place
Source: Politico
10/20/2025 02:24 PM EDT
PHILADELPHIA — A panel of federal appeals court judges appeared skeptical Monday of President Donald Trump’s use of unconventional methods to install loyalists as top prosecutors without Senate confirmation.
A trio of judges from the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals spent over an hour questioning the multistep process the Trump administration used to designate his former personal attorney Alina Habba the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey and keep her there even after district judges sought to replace her. In August, a lower-court judge ruled that Habba is serving unlawfully, and the Trump administration is appealing that determination.
The panel Monday consisted of Judge L. Felipe Restrepo, an appointee of former President Barack Obama; and Judges D. Michael Fisher and D. Brooks Smith, appointees of former President George W. Bush. All three questioned the government’s move, with Smith at one point calling it “a complete circumvention, it seems, of the appointments clause.”
Habba’s is the most advanced of several cases around the country, including in California and Nevada, in which defendants are challenging the authority of U.S. attorneys installed by the Trump administration through unusual tactics meant to quickly put or keep loyalists in place and without Senate confirmation.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/20/alina-habba-us-attorney-case-arguments-00615489