Newark, NJ – The battle over who leads the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey has triggered a constitutional showdown, after former President Donald Trump’s controversial maneuver to keep longtime ally Alina Habba in power drew legal fire from defense attorneys across the state.

In an amicus brief filed this week, the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (ACDL-NJ) warned a federal judge that the Biden Justice Department’s backing of Habba’s role as acting U.S. attorney amounts to “unconstitutional maneuvering” that could destabilize prosecutions and taint critical criminal appeals.

At the center of the controversy is a complex and unprecedented sequence of events. Habba, once Trump’s private attorney, had been serving as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey. As her 120-d

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