A federal judge on Monday disqualified three Justice Department officials from overseeing federal prosecutions in New Jersey, ruling that their appointments were part of an unlawful attempt by the Trump administration to bypass Senate confirmation requirements.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann marks the latest chapter in an escalating legal battle between the federal judiciary and President Donald Trump over how the administration has filled key U.S. attorney positions across the country.
In his ruling, Brann determined that Attorney General Pam Bondi improperly attempted to place three Justice Department officials — Philip Lamparello, Jordan Fox and Ari Fontecchio — in charge of the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey without Senate approval.
The judge said the arrangement violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, which generally requires Senate confirmation for U.S. attorneys.
Brann also delivered a sharp rebuke of the administration’s broader strategy for staffing federal prosecutor offices, describing the maneuver as an “enormous assertion of Presidential power.”
“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 wrote in the ruling. “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.”
The dispute stems from the administration’s earlier effort to install Alina Habba — Trump’s former personal lawyer — as the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
Last year, Brann ruled that Habba could no longer serve in the position because she had exceeded the amount of time permitted for an acting U.S. attorney to remain in office without Senate confirmation.
In response, the Justice Department attempted a new approach: assigning three officials to jointly oversee the office on an indefinite basis. Brann rejected that arrangement Monday, ruling that the change did not cure the constitutional problem.
Habba, who remains at the Justice Department as a senior adviser, dismissed the decision in a statement posted on social media.
“Judges may continue to try and stop President Trump from carrying out what the American people voted for, but we will not be deterred,” she wrote. “The unconstitutionality of this complete overreach into the Executive Branch, time and time again, will not succeed.”