The U.S. District Court judges from New Jersey rejected President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. Attorney and voted against retaining Alina Habba during a meeting on Monday, and have selected Desiree Grace, Habba’s first assistant, to replace her, the New Jersey Globe has learned.
The 37-year-old Grace 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. She is a registered Republican.
“The district court judges in NJ are trying to force out (Habba) before her term expires at 11:59 PM Friday. Their rush reveals what this was always about: a left-wing agenda, not the rule of law. When judges act like activists, they undermine confidence in our justice system,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Alina is President Trump’s choice to lead — and no partisan bench can override that.”
Habba reaches the maximum 120-day limit to serve as interim U.S. Attorney at 11:59 PM on Friday, and needed either a vote of the U.S. Senate to confirm her nomination or the support of the state’s federal judges to continue.
There is still a path for Habba to remain in the post for another 210 days: after federal judges in upstate New York tried to remove Trump’s U.S. Attorney, John A. Sarcone III was instead appointed Special Attorney to the Attorney General and First Assistant U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of New York.
The judges also considered former U.S. District Court Judge Noel Hillman. It is possible that another name emerged during the meeting.
Once the federal judges pick someone, they can remain in office until the U.S. Senate confirms another nominee. U.S. Attorney General Bondi lacks the legal authority to fire the judges’ choice, but Trump could do so directly.
Hillman, 68, 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.
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.
It appears that Renee Bumb, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in New Jersey, allowed four senior status judges — three nominated by Bush and one by Bill Clinton — to participate in the vote.
Nineteen total votes were cast, and it’s unclear which judges were not at the meeting in Trenton on Monday.
Habba’s nomination has stalled in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats Cory Booker and Andy Kim have said they won’t sign off on her. Both Booker and Kim, however, reacted positively to the news that Grace had been appointed to the role.
“I am grateful to see that New Jersey’s District Court judges succeeded in appointing Desiree Grace as New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney,” Kim said. “I hope to see her exercise the same judgement and reason in this new position.”
Blanche had spoken directly to Bumb, relaying that Habba has the full support of the president and the Department of Justice.
“District judges should use their authority to keep her in place,” Blanche said later on social media.
This story was updated at 2:10 PM with comment from Blanche.
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