A federal appeals court said on Monday that Alina Habba had been serving unlawfully as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, dealing a blow to the Trump administration and most likely setting up a showdown at the Supreme Court.
Ms. Habba is one of a number of U.S. attorneys whom the Trump administration has sought to keep in power through a series of unusual maneuvers even though she was neither confirmed by the Senate nor appointed by district trial court judges — the two traditional pathways.
In its ruling, the three-judge panel, based in Philadelphia, affirmed an earlier ruling by a Federal District Court judge. The court said that the government’s tactics had violated the law as written and concluded that, overall, the Trump administration appeared to have become frustrated by legal and political barriers to placing its favored U.S. attorneys in charge.
The maneuvers undertaken to keep Ms. Habba in charge exemplified the difficulties the administration had faced, the judges wrote. And yet, they said, “the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the U.S. attorney’s office deserve some clarity and stability.”
It was not immediately clear how the ruling would affect legal proceedings in the New Jersey federal courts or whether Ms. Habba will continue to lead the office in the near future. The courts had already been operating in a kind of limbo, given her uncertain status. Certain types of criminal cases were slowed, and some grand jury proceedings were halted.
The Justice Department and a spokeswoman for Ms. Habba did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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