A federal judge has called out Attorney General Pam Bondi for illegally installing leadership of New Jersey’s top prosecutor’s office—for the second time.
Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann issued the sweeping, 130-page ruling Monday, disqualifying the trio of DOJ lawyers—Jordan Fox, Philip Lamparello, and Ari Fontecchio—from the role.
Bondi, 60, had put them in charge of the District of New Jersey after her previous pick, former Trump personal attorney Alina Habba, 41, was pushed out last December.
Brann was withering in his assessment of Bondi’s latest maneuver, describing the government’s defense of the arrangement as a “rhetorical smokescreen” and warning the administration it had put thousands of criminal prosecutions at risk.
“One year into this administration, 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,” wrote the Pennsylvania-based judge, as reported by Politico.
He warned that “scores of dangerous criminals could have their cases dismissed” as a result of the Trump administration’s insistence on installing attorneys “handpicked” by the president even when they are unlawfully appointed.
The trouble began when Habba—installed by Trump as interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey in March 2025—was ruled to be serving unlawfully once her 120-day term expired without Senate confirmation.
The administration deployed a series of increasingly convoluted legal tricks to keep her in the job, all of which Brann rejected before the Third Circuit upheld his ruling last December.
Bondi had scrambled to save face by naming Habba a senior adviser while vowing the courts had gotten it wrong—a position that looks considerably shakier after Monday’s ruling.
Habba has continued angling to return to her post even after being forced out.
Rather than pursue the lawful routes to fill the vacancy—principally, a Senate-confirmed nomination—Bondi instead tried splitting the U.S. attorney’s role across three lawyers. The judge promptly swatted down that workaround.
“Why does the fate of thousands of criminal prosecutions in this district potentially rest on the legitimacy of an unprecedented and byzantine leadership structure?” Brann asked, before supplying his own answer: “The government tells us: the President doesn’t like that he cannot simply appoint whomever he wants.”
Brann stayed his ruling pending a DOJ appeal, but warned the administration it proceeds “at its own risk,” and that any further illegal appointments will result in criminal charges being dismissed.
He also mocked Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s claim, made twice via social media, that courts have no say in picking U.S. attorneys, pointing out that Congress has explicitly granted judges that power under precisely the circumstances now at play in New Jersey.
New Jersey is now among at least five states where courts have disqualified a Trump-installed prosecutor. Brann said that pattern reflects an administration that “cares far more about who is running” the office “than whether it is running at all.”
Habba, who remains a senior adviser to Bondi, dismissed the ruling on X as “another ridiculous ruling from Judge Brann,” adding: “Judges may continue to try and stop President Trump from carrying out what the American people voted for, but we will not be deterred.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
