Federal judge issues stinging rejection of 3 NJ prosecutors in huge blow to Trump DOJ

Pam Bondi keeps illegally appointing attorney generals for New Jersey and local judges keep throwing them out.

A chief U.S. District Judge for Pennsylvania rejected three new leaders of the New Jersey U.S. attorney's office on the argument that the Trump administration is illegally trying to circumvent Senate confirmation of U.S. attorneys.

“One year into this administration, it is plain that President [Donald] Trump and his top aides have chafed at the limits on their power set forth by law and the Constitution,” wrote Chief District Judge Matthew W. Brann on Monday. “To avoid these roadblocks, this administration frequently purports to have discovered enormous grants of executive power hidden in the vagaries and silences of the code.”

After Brann determined that Trump administration appointee Alina Habba was unlawfully serving as the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and booted her, AG Pam Bondi appointed and delegated a “Byzantine” triumvirate of lesser leaders, all unconfirmed by the U.S. Senate: Senior Counsel Philip Lamparello became Senior Counsel, Special Jordan Fox and Executive Assistant US Attorney Ari Fontecchio to conduct prosecutions.

But because the triumvirate are all equally unconfirmed by the Senate, all are illegally conducting prosecutions for New Jersey, ruled Brann — who then ejected the three.

Congress has a “clear and unambiguous requirement of Presidential nomination and Senate confirmation before a person may exercise the powers of a United States Attorney, … which has been the standard for more than 236 years,” argued Brann. But Bondi argues that she “can appoint anyone to any subordinate position in the Department of Justice and delegate them the authority to act in any other subordinate role, no matter how significant.”

Brann isn’t buying that, according to his Monday ruling, which characterized the claim as “an enormous assertion of Presidential power.”

“The current leadership structure for the office … constitutes a unilateral appointment in violation of the Appointments Clause. This finding requires disqualification of the Attorney General’s appointees,” said Bran.

Because the triumvirate were not authorized to prosecute, Brann could have made the additional decision to toss the cases they lodged at defendants during their short time in office. Brann stopped there, however — but warned the government that further prosecutions lodged by unauthorized people could get dismissed.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said he was happy with the decision on X.

“I’m glad to see the rule of law prevail once again,” Pallone posted. “The chaos New Jersey suffered under Alina Habba was too great — we can’t afford to have our justice system torn limb from limb by Trump loyalists who only prioritize his political agenda.”