Federal judges set to meet Monday, maybe to pick U.S. Attorney

A meeting of the U.S. District Court Judges from New Jersey has been set for Monday to possibly vote to appoint a U.S. Attorney, the New Jersey Globe has learned.

The meeting takes place amid uncertainties surrounding the tenure of U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, whose 120-day term is set to expire on Tuesday.  Under an incredibly murky statute, federal judges, by a majority vote, may appoint a U.S. Attorney if no one has been nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Habba has called a full staff meeting for this afternoon, but the agenda for that meeting remains unclear.

Several sources with direct knowledge of the selection process, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have told the New Jersey Globe that Habba does not have enough support among the federal judges to win a vote.  Still, Habba appears to have impressed some judges, including obtaining Justice Department approval to hire twenty new assistant U.S. Attorneys, but time is not on her side.

Increasingly, the choice faced by the judges looks like a two-way contest between First Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace and former U.S. District Court Judge Noel Lawrence Hillman.  Both are registered Republicans.

The federal statute remains largely untested, and there are maneuvers that the White House and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi could use to extend Habba’s tenure, although not necessarily for an uninterrupted stay.  If Habba stays beyond 120 days, a defendant charged by her office could challenge the validity of the action.

On Wednesday, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a social media post that “a newly revealed memo confirms that at least some federal judges were predisposed against the Trump administration.”

“This is a serious breach of the judicial oath and a threat to the rule of law,” Blanche said. “Every litigant, regardless of politics, is entitled to a fair forum.”

Of the seventeen sitting District Court judges from New Jersey, fifteen were nominated by Democratic presidents – five by Barack Obama and ten by Joe Biden – and two by Republican George W. Bush.

The judicial appointment takes effect only after Bondi’s appointment – she initially named John Giordano before installing Habba three weeks later – serves 120 days.

Among the many ambiguities of the federal law is whether the four senior status judges — three nominated by Bush and one by Bill Clinton — have a vote in a process that typically doesn’t involve more than one candidate.  That may be up to the chief judge, Renee Bumb.

Grace, 37, has been a federal prosecutor since 2016 and was serving as chief of the criminal division when Habba named her first assistant in April.  She had clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Judge Morton Greenberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The 68-year-old Hillman served as an assistant U.S. Attorney from 1992 to 2001 and was nominated to the U.S. District Court by President Bush in 2006.  He went on senior status in 2024 and retired in 2024; he now practices law at Gibbons, one of the state’s top firms.

President Donald Trump nominated Habba for a full term as U.S. Attorney on July 1, but New Jersey’s two Democratic U.S. Senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, have said they won’t sign off on her.

During his first term, Trump never formally nominated a U.S. Attorney from New Jersey.  Craig Carpenito was acting U.S. Attorney in early 2018; then the federal judges voted to appoint him.