FILE PHOTO: Alina Habba is sworn in as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File photo

By Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Thursday ruled that Alina Habba, a former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, was unlawfully appointed as the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and is therefore ineligible to participate in any ongoing cases.

The ruling is a setback for Trump's Justice Department, which maneuvered to keep Habba in her post and circumvent a judicial decision not to extend her 120-day interim tenure.

"Faced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not," wrote U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann.

The challenges to Habba's authority were brought by two defendants in an illegal drug case, Julien Giraud Jr. and Julien Giraud III, and Cesar Humberto Pina, a defendant in another case who is accused of fraud and laundering drug proceeds.

The defendants in the two cases challenged a series of Trump administration procedural maneuvers in July to keep Habba as the state's top federal prosecutor for another 210 days.

Brann wrote that Habba's actions since July 1 "may be declared void, including her approval of the indictment of Defendant Cesar Humberto Pina," though that fact does not require its dismissal.

“Prosecutors wield enormous power, and with that comes the responsibility to ensure they are qualified and properly appointed," Abbe David Lowell and Gerald Krovatin, attorneys for Pina, said in a statement.

"We appreciate the thoroughness of the court’s opinion, and its decision underscores that this Administration cannot circumvent the congressionally mandated process for confirming U.S. Attorney appointments.”

The ruling is likely to spur similar legal challenges and could bring hundreds of federal criminal cases in New Jersey to a halt.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said the Justice Department will immediately appeal the ruling.

Habba "is doing incredible work in New Jersey — and we will protect her position from activist judicial attacks," Bondi said on X.

The department has argued that Habba was validly appointed and that Bondi has given her authority to supervise cases regardless of her title. The Trump administration accused judges on New Jersey's federal district court, who appointed Habba's top deputy as her successor, of political motives.

The department is using similar tactics to evade judicial intervention and temporarily keep at least three other U.S. attorneys aligned with Trump in their roles.

It fired Desiree Grace, a career prosecutor who was selected by the court to replace Habba, and the White House said Trump preemptively removed her as U.S. attorney.

Brann, the chief trial judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, had already ruled the Giraud case could not be tossed out because of uncertainty over Habba's appointment, but reserved ruling on whether Habba and her office would be allowed to supervise it.

The case was reassigned to Brann because New Jersey's federal judges were involved in the dispute.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone, Daniel Wallis, Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates)