Former interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba – who was one of President Donald Trump's personal attorneys — announced on Monday has officially stepped down from her position. However, numerous attorneys and other experts were quick to point out she hadn't actually held the job she resigned from for some time.
In her official post announcing her exit from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, Habba maintained that she – along with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (another former Trump lawyer) — "made New Jersey safer." Habba attributed her exit to a ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, but warned that critics should "not mistake compliance for surrender." She also ended her post with: "You can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you cannot take New Jersey out of the girl."
"While I was focused on delivering real results, judges in my state took advantage of a flawed blue slip tradition and became weapons for the politicized left. For months, these judges stopped conducting trials and entering sentences, leaving violent criminals on the streets," Habba stated, firing a parting shot at the tradition in the Senate Judiciary Committee allowing senators to have say over U.S. attorneys and federal judges appointed in their home states.
Habba's announcement was widely ridiculed by many in the legal community and other experts. Legal podcaster Peter Shamshiri wrote on Bluesky: "ending your resignation letter with 'you can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you cannot take New Jersey out of the girl' should be considered an actionable true threat." Columbia University journalism professor Bill Grueskin quipped: "Will no one think of the people who pretend to have jobs they don't have?"
"Time to get a real job," wrote journalist Chris Turner.
"This is some of the funniest s—— I have ever seen," Nashville, Tennessee-based lawyer Daniel A. Horwitz wrote in response to Habba's statement. "I was having a terrible day until now. Thank you so much for this."
"This is so funny man. It's basically an admission that she was acting without authority and that her actions were illegal," Chicago-based attorney Matt Enloe wrote on Bluesky. "I can't wait to see this on a giant poster in an oversight hearing eventually."
As Enloe noted, Habba's appointment was ruled illegal by a federal judge in August, who ruled she had "no lawful authority" to hold her position. That ruling was later upheld by the Third Circuit. Habba's citing of the Third Circuit ruling in her resignation statement is an indirect acknowledgement of the decision that rendered all of her decisions "void."