Trump’s Trio of Successors to Habba Challenged in NJ Court (1)

A US judge heard extensive arguments Friday on whether President Donald Trump’s administration illegally appointed a trio of lawyers to succeed Alina Habba after her resignation as the top federal law enforcer in New Jersey.

Habba stepped down last month when an appeals court ruled that the Department of Justice unlawfully named her as acting US attorney when her interim appointment expired after 120 days.

Alina Habba in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, March 28, 2025.

Photographer: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg

In response, Attorney General Pam Bondi delegated the duties of running the office to three lawyers in an unprecedented arrangement. Lawyers for two criminal defendants argued in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, that the setup illegally bypassed the president’s requirement to seek Senate confirmation of a US attorney. The hearing comes after judges have ruled that Trump illegally appointed US attorneys in Virginia, New York, California and Nevada.

“The government is turning their nose up at the judiciary,” argued attorney Doug Passon, who represents a defendant challenging the appointments. “It’s time that they understand there are consequences for their actions.”

US District Judge Matthew Brann, the chief judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, was brought in to decide the matter. After hearing arguments for than three hours Friday, the judge didn’t issue a ruling.

Brann questioned the scope, powers and potential time limit of the appointment for the trio holding their jobs.

“There is no express time limit,” Supervisory Assistant US Attorney Mark Coyne responded. Coyne said the government is to likely to appeal if the judge rules against them.

The judge also asked about the novel structure of the delegated trio and why Trump hasn’t introduced another potential appointee to replace Habba.

“The executive branch hasn’t landed on someone they are comfortable to nominate as replacement,” Coyne said. “The president is entitled to have confidence in the person he selects to run this office.”

‘Evade Oversight’

In written arguments, lawyers for the defendants wrote that Trump “attempts to evade legislative oversight by simply treating the Congressionally-mandated position of the United States Attorney as, in effect, abolished.” They said the government can’t legally support the notion that Bondi may “delegate to multiple individuals the authority to perform all the work of a US Attorney when that office is vacant.”

Brann first ruled last August that Habba was illegally appointed. As top federal prosecutors, US attorneys enforce Justice Department policy while overseeing criminal prosecutions and civil litigation.

Lawyers for the defendants filed arguments in the past month urging Brann to dismiss their criminal cases. They claim that the government’s theory of “dispersed delegation” – dividing power among the trio – amounts to a “power grab.”

They claim the supervisory structure violates the Appointments Clause of the US Constitution and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. But in a filing, the Justice Department said Bondi has the power to delegate supervisory authority within the office.

“Even if there is no United States Attorney — confirmed, interim, acting, or otherwise — the Attorney General may specifically direct DOJ attorneys to conduct the work of a USAO and supervise how they do so,” wrote Justice Department lawyers, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Trio Appointed

On Dec. 8, Bondi appointed Philip Lamparello as senior counsel to supervise the criminal and special prosecutions division. He had previously been a litigator and editor of New Jersey Lawyer magazine and had no prosecutorial experience, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Bondi also appointed Jordan Fox as a special attorney overseeing the appeals and civil division. Fox, Blanche’s chief of staff and an associate deputy attorney general, graduated from law school in 2021. She had worked as a law clerk to a judge and an associate at two New Jersey law firms, according to LinkedIn.

Ari Fontecchio was named as executive assistant US attorney and oversees the administrative division. He began working in the office in 2016.

All three of them attended the hearing on Friday.

The challenges were filed by Raheel Naviwala and Daniel Torres. Naviwala was convicted at trial of a $100 million health care fraud and kickback scheme, and he awaits sentencing. Torres, who was convicted of cocaine distribution in 2015, faces a separate indictment accusing him of cocaine trafficking.

Since stepping down as acting US attorney in New Jersey, Habba has acted as “senior advisor to the attorney general for US attorneys,” according to the Jan. 16 filing.

While she no longer supervises anyone in New Jersey, “Ms. Habba may from time-to-time exercise supervision over specific cases or issues in the District of New Jersey, as with any other district and no different than many other supervisors at Main Justice,” the US wrote. “She is not a ‘shadow US Attorney.’”

Habba had previously acted as a personal attorney for Trump.

The cases are US v. Naviwala, 24-cr-99, and US v. Torres, 24-378, US District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).

(Updates with details of the arguments in court.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
David Voreacos in New York at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net;
Tatyana Monnay in Arlington at tmonnay1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net;
Ellen M. Gilmer at egilmer@bloomberg.net

Anthony Aarons, Steve Stroth

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