Judge rejects NJ US Attorney ‘triumvirate’ in latest blow to Trump prosecutors

A federal judge has ejected the leaders of the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey, concluding that Attorney General Pam Bondi illegally appointed an unusual “triumvirate,” at President Donald Trump’s whim, to oversee the powerful federal prosecuting office.

“Why does the fate of thousands of criminal prosecutions in this District potentially rest on the legitimacy of an unprecedented and byzantine leadership structure?” U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote. “The President doesn’t like that he cannot simply appoint whomever he wants.”

The sweeping, scolding 130-page decision repeatedly chides the administration for attempting to sidestep Senate confirmation and twist centuries-old precedents to work the president’s will.

“One year into this administration, it is plain that President Trump and his top aides have chafed at the limits on their power set forth by law and the Constitution,” Brann concluded.

The ruling by Brann, a conservative judge appointed by President Barack Obama, followed an earlier ruling that the Trump administration had illegally maneuvered to keep loyalist Alina Habba — Trump’s former personal lawyer — in place as a U.S. attorney after her interim appointment expired.

The ruling deepens the dysfunction in an office that oversees some of the most significant criminal and civil litigation in the country. Brann’s decision also further complicates the Justice Department’s wide-ranging effort to install top federal prosecutors while circumventing or overriding either the Senate-confirmation or judicial-appointment processes, an effort the Trump administration has attempted in various U.S. attorneys offices across the country.

Brann stayed his decision pending an anticipated “speedy appeal” by the Department of Justice. “However, my reasoning makes clear that a stay cannot validate an unlawful appointment. If the Government chooses to leave the triumvirate in place, it does so at its own risk,” he wrote.

Brann made clear he harbors deep distrust for leaders of the Justice Department, calling their arguments a “rhetorical smokescreen” that he is “not fooled by.”

Brann said he would consider dismissing indictments if the Justice Department continues to illegally appoint leaders of the office, faulting the administration for the possibility that “scores of dangerous criminals could have their cases dismissed or convictions eventually reversed.” However, the judge left open the possibility that senior DOJ appointees could have the authority to retrospectively “ratify” decisions taken by the trio.

The judge also ridiculed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s position that “Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does,” — a sentiment he has expressed twice while firing judicially appointed U.S. attorneys via social media. “Article II of the Constitution explicitly permits Judges to appoint inferior officers when authorized by Congress … and Congress has granted Judges authority to select United States Attorneys under the exact factual circumstances that the Government agrees exist in these cases,” Brann wrote.

Following Habba’s resignation Bondi put a trio of Justice Department lawyers in charge of the office: Philip Lamparello, Jordan Fox and Ari Fontecchio. Fox has worked, with halting success, to mend relationships with New Jersey’s federal judges, vowing to correct a pattern of violated court orders that the office identified in recent months amid an influx of emergency immigration litigation.

The 30-year-old Fox has felt out New Jersey’s judges about potentially appointing her as interim U.S. Attorney, but it’s not clear if they’re amenable to that arrangement.

Brann said the Trump administration has repeatedly ignored legal methods for filling the vacancy.

“As long as the President is willing to find compromise, there is no reason that someone cannot always be performing the functions and duties of the office in complete conformity with the law,” Brann wrote. “Yet through its statements and actions, the Administration has made clear that it cares far more about who is running the USAO-NJ than whether it is running at all.”

Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Habba trashed the decision on her personal X account.

“Another ridiculous ruling from Judge Brann,” wrote Habba, who was named as a senior advisor to Bondi after being ousted from the top prosecutor post in New Jersey last year.

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.