Attorney General Pam Bondi’s announcement on X that the office of the acting United States attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, had been ransacked underscores the chaos that has overtaken the Department of Justice’s branch in the Garden State.  

Ms. Bondi writes that “Last night, an individual attempted to confront one of our U.S. Attorneys — my dear friend Alina Habba — destroyed property in her office, and then fled the scene. Thankfully, Alina is ok. Any violence or threats of violence against any federal officer will not be tolerated. Period.” Ms. Habba, a married mother of three, is reportedly unharmed.

The Times reports that the suspect at first attempted to enter the Newark office with a baseball bat but was denied entry. He then returned sans lumber and “went to the floor where Ms. Habba’s office is and began yelling incoherently and smashing property.”

The attorney general writes that “We will find this person, and the individual will be brought to justice.” If a federal crime was involved — most criminal law is state specific — the task of prosecution will fall to none other than Ms. Habba. The DOJ website explains that she “is responsible for overseeing all federal criminal prosecutions and the litigation of all civil matters in New Jersey in which the federal government has an interest.”

The ability of Ms. Habba — who previously was a personal attorney for President Trump who represented him during Letitia James’s civil fraud trial  — to do that job, though, has been thrown into deep doubt. A federal judge, Matthew Brann, in New Jersey ruled that she was unlawfully appointed to the prestigious prosecutorial post. Judge Brann ruled that because Ms. Habba “is not currently qualified to exercise the functions and duties of the office in an acting capacity, she must be disqualified from participating in any ongoing cases.”

Judge Brann adds that “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.” The effects of his ruling, though, are paused pending an appeal by Ms. Bondi’s DOJ. Judge Brann, while he ruled that Ms. Habba is unlawfully appointed, declined to dismiss the charges in all of the cases she brought.

Ms. Habba was at first nominated for a permanent position, but her path to confirmation by the Senate was blocked, via the method known as “blue slipping,” by New Jersey’s two Democratic senators, Andy Kim and Cory Booker. That practice of the Senate gives a state’s senators veto power over federal prosecutors in that state.

Ms. Habba was then appointed as interim United States attorney, a status that expires after 120 days. A state’s federal judges then, by law, can vote to extend the tenure or deny an extension. Fifteen of New Jersey’s 17 federal judges — the overwhelming number of them Democrats —  voted against extending Ms. Habba. Ms. Bondi then named Ms. Habba acting United States Attorney and Special Attorney to the United States Attorney General. 

That designation, which judge Brann describes as involving a “novel series of legal and personnel moves,”  is now being contested. The vehement opposition to Ms. Habba among Democrats now possibly has less to do with her closeness to the president than from her prosecution, for assault and other crimes, of the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, as well as a Democratic congresswoman, LaMonica McIver. Both of the cases stemmed from a protest outside an ICE facility.

The case against Mr. Baraka was dropped, but the one against Ms. McIver —  who’s been charged with felonies —  survived a crucial early test on Thursday when Judge Jamel Semper denied Ms. McIver’s claim that she was being vindictively and selectively prosecuted — the same defense being lodged by the former director of the FBI, James Comey, and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James. 

Judge Semper, an appointee of President Biden, also denied the lawmaker’s claim that she was immune from prosecution under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers for activities tied to their legislative duties. Ms. McIver, who could face prison if convicted, has pleaded “not guilty.”