Ranking Member Jamie Raskin’s Statement on Trump’s End-Run to Keep Alina Habba in U.S. Attorney’s Office Over Court-Appointed Replacement

Washington, D.C. (July 25, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on the Trump Administration’s procedural maneuver to retain Alina Habba as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, sidestepping a court-appointed replacement and the constitutional requirement of Senate confirmation:

“When the judges of the District of New Jersey this week declined to extend Ms. Habba’s interim term as U.S. Attorney, the Department of Justice attempted to defy the court and violate federal law. The Attorney General fired the court’s appointed replacement—a long-time and well-regarded career prosecutor whom Ms. Habba selected as her deputy.

“The President is free to have whomever he wants as U.S. Attorney so long as that nominee secures the advice and consent of the Senate. Until he does, the law is clear: district judges, all of whom were subject to the nomination and confirmation process, name the acting head of the office.

“This unlawful attempt to install Ms. Habba, Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer who promised to use her position to ‘turn New Jersey red,’ is a glaring admission that even the Trump Administration knows Habba simply cannot withstand the constitutionally required scrutiny of a confirmation hearing.

“Despite only being on the job for four months, Habba has weaponized and embarrassed her office, bringing trumped up charges against a Democratic Member of Congress for doing her constitutional oversight duties in accordance with the law. 

“The unwillingness of this Republican-controlled Senate—which has eagerly rubber-stamped the likes of Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard—to confirm Habba is a blaring alarm bell that Habba is simply unfit to serve.”