New Jersey district judges and the Trump administration came to an agreement to appoint career prosecutor Robert Frazer as Alina Habba’s replacement as U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
Chief Judge Renee Marie Bumb announced Frazer’s departure in a single-sentence notice on the state court’s website on Monday, with the appointment effective Monday. The appointment marks the end of a monthslong dispute between the Trump administration and New Jersey courts, which couldn’t agree on a successor to Habba after her interim term ended.
Habba seemed pleased with the appointment, congratulating Frazer on the move.
“New Jersey deserves a great chief federal law enforcement official who is in line with President Trump’s agenda of making this country safe and NJ great! I know Rob well and he will be a great champion of this state and mission of the @TheJusticeDept,” she wrote.
Habba sought to portray the appointment as a lesson-learning process for New Jersey judges, saying it proved that when judges and Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and President Donald Trump “collaborate on serving what an overwhelming majority of Americans asked for at the ballots and not attack mindlessly for political gain THINGS GET DONE.”
Frazer will remain in place unless Trump fires him, as his appointed role has no time limit.
DOJ COULD SOON ASK SUPREME COURT TO CONSIDER LEGAL BATTLE OVER TRUMP-APPOINTED US ATTORNEYS
The Trump administration attempted for months to facilitate Habba’s return, even going so far as to eye a Supreme Court intervention after repeated rebuffs from state courts.
U.S. attorneys are usually appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but Trump’s disdain for the process complicated matters. Judges had to resort to a 160-year-old power that allows them to fill prosecutorial vacancies in certain circumstances, Politico reported.