update - Fed'l judge rules Alina Habba is illegal and voids all her official actions

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The Supreme Court has decided not to expedite a legal challenge concerning tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

This ruling has left many companies, particularly those in the toy industry, bracing for continued uncertainty amidst a turbulent trade landscape.

Trump’s Tariffs


The Supreme Court declined to fast-track a legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s tariffs. By: MEGA© Knewz (CA)
The legal ramifications of this decision extend far beyond the courtrooms. Trump’s contentious tariffs, first announced in April during the so-called “Liberation Day,” were designed to alter the global trading system in favor of the United States. His ambitious agenda, however, quickly spiraled into chaos, triggering market instability and discontent among U.S. trading partners.





The announcement was met with resistance from nearly every affected country, each of which confronted the economic ramifications as discussions over trade policy intensified.

Despite the shift in sentiment, Trump initially appeared undeterred. He momentarily backtracked on his demands when countries began reaching out for negotiations, resulting in a dynamic and unpredictable tariff landscape.

In a cyclical twist, the U.S. Court of International Trade effectively halted the legality of the tariffs, a move that provoked an immediate appeal from the Trump administration.

Supreme Court’s Decision


The Supreme Court returned with a decision not to fast-track the case. By: MEGA© Knewz (CA)
As reported, Chicago-based toy companies, led by Learning Resources Inc., emerged as key players in this legal saga. Initially, they found an ally in the lower courts, winning an early victory when they argued that Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs was an overreach that bypassed Congressional authority. Yet, in a classic example of legal tug-of-war, the tariffs remain firmly in place as appeals unfold.



To add to the stakes, Learning Resources’ CEO, Rick Woldenberg, expressed the mounting pressures that tariffs have inflicted on businesses.

“Prices are rising, and manufacturers absolutely do not have a choice,” he told the Associated Press. His commentary encapsulated the palpable sense of dread lingering over many companies grappling with the uncertainty provoked by the tariffs.

The Supreme Court’s Swift Resolution


Donald Trump announced a slate of tariffs in April as part of ‘Liberation Day.’ By: MEGA© Knewz (CA)
In light of these developments, companies sought to cut through an increasingly tangled legal web by petitioning the Supreme Court for a swift resolution regarding the tariff dilemma. However, the high court’s decision not to fast-track the case signals a delay that many had hoped to avoid.

As the ruling stands, the lower courts will now have the opportunity to navigate the complex legal landscape before proceeding any further.

Trade Policy

The White House, undeterred by the ruling, continues to assert the legitimacy of Trump’s tariff strategy.

Spokesperson Kush Desai emphasized this point, stating, “The Trump administration is legally using the powers granted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to address our country’s national emergencies of persistent goods trade deficits and drug trafficking.” His remarks underscore the administration’s unwavering commitment to its approach, even amid a complex web of legal scrutiny.


The debate surrounding trade policy has broader implications for the American economy, as the tariffs imposed under Trump’s administration affect a wide range of industries, complicating a national economic landscape that has already endured its fair share of disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Industries reliant on global supply chains face cascading consequences from increased import costs.

Supreme Court Hands Trump Big Win on Tariffs

 

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BOSTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's plan to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally will remain blocked as an order from one judge went into effect Friday and another seemed inclined to follow suit.

U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante in New Hampshire had paused his own decision to allow for the Trump administration to appeal, but with no appeal filed in the last week his order went into effect.



“The judge’s order protects every single child whose citizenship was called into question by this illegal executive order," Cody Wofsy, the ACLU attorney representing children who would be affected by Trump’s restrictions, said. “The government has not appealed and has not sought emergency relief so this injunction is now in effect everywhere in the country.”



FILE - Hannah Liu, 26, of Washington, holds up a sign in support of birthright citizenship, May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. "This is enshrined in the Constitution. My parents are Chinese immigrants," says Liu. "They came here on temporary visas so I derive my citizenship through birthright." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)© The Associated Press
The Trump administration could still appeal or even ask that LaPlante’s order be narrowed but the effort to end birthright citizenship for children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily can’t take effect for now.

The Justice Department didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.



Meanwhile, a judge in Boston heard arguments from more than a dozen states who say Trump’s birthright citizenship order is blatantly unconstitutional and threatens millions of dollars for essential services. The issue is expected to move quickly back to the nation’s highest court.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin was asked to consider either keeping in place the nationwide injunction he granted earlier or consider a request from the government either to narrow the scope of that order or stay it altogether. Sorokin, located in Boston, did not immediately rule but seemed to be receptive to arguments from states to keep the injunction in place.

Lawyers for the government had argued Sorokin should narrow the reach of his earlier ruling granting a preliminary injunction, arguing it should be “tailored to the States’ purported financial injuries.”



Much of the hearing was focused on what a narrower ruling would look like. The plaintiffs raised concerns that some alternatives floated by the Trump administration — such as giving children in states impacted by the birthright citizenship order social security numbers, but not citizenship — would be costly and unworkable.

They said such a system would burden these states with having to set up new administrative systems, sow confusion among the parents whose children are impacted and possibly turn these states into magnets for families from other states looking to access the benefits.

Government lawyers didn't seem tied to any one alternative, but told Sorokin the scope of his injunction should be limited. When pressed on how they would do that, a lawyer for the government, Eric Hamilton, would only commit to complying with whatever order was issued.


“If the court modifies the preliminary injunction or stays the preliminary injunction, it should be at most tailored to injuries plaintiffs are alleging which are primary financial,” Hamilton said.

Sorokin pushed back, at one point using an analogy of someone who sued a neighbor over loud music. The defendant offers to build a wall to limit the noise but Sorokin wondered how they could ensure it met the zoning code and was something the defendant could afford.

“What you are telling me is we will do it but, in response to my question, you have no answer how you will do it,” Sorokin said.

LaPlante issued the ruling last week p rohibiting Trump’s executive order from taking effect nationwide in a new class-action lawsuit, and a Maryland-based judge said this week that she would do the same if an appeals court signed off.

The justices ruled last month that lower courts generally can’t issue nationwide injunctions, but it didn’t rule out other court orders that could have nationwide effects, including in class-action lawsuits and those brought by states. The Supreme Court did not decide whether the underlying citizenship order is constitutional.


At the heart of the lawsuits is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1868 after the Civil War and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision. That decision found that Scott, an enslaved man, wasn’t a citizen despite having lived in a state where slavery was outlawed.

The Trump administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship.

Michael Casey, The Associated Press

Trump's birthright citizenship order remains blocked as lawsuits march on after Supreme Court ruling

 

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A federal judge has restored a Democrat to the Federal Trade Commission, ruling that President Donald Trump illegally fired her earlier this year in his efforts to exert control over independent agencies across the government.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled late Thursday that federal law protects FTC commissioners from being removed by the president without cause, citing a key 1935 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the FTC.



The decision allows Rebecca Kelly Slaughter to resume her duties as commissioner. The FTC website had been updated by Friday morning to show that Slaughter is among four sitting commissioners.

Attorneys for the Trump administration almost immediately declared their intent to appeal, and the case could make its way to the Supreme Court. The conservative-led court already has narrowed the reach of the 90-year-old decision, known as Humphrey’s Executor, and some justices have called for overturning it altogether.

The high court also permitted Trump to fire the heads of other independent agencies. In May, the court allowed Trump to remove members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, despite lower court rulings that Humphrey’s Executor should protect them from arbitrary dismissal.

The justices are currently weighing an emergency appeal from the administration to oust three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Trump fired them in May, but a federal judge restored them to their positions a month later.



The legal fight over the firings also could extend to the Federal Reserve and the prospect of Trump firing Fed chairman Jerome Powell. The justices suggested in May that Trump may not have the same freedom to upend the leadership of the Fed, describing it as “a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”

In her opinion, AliKhan said she was required to abide by the Humphrey’s Executor decision, in which the court rebuffed President Franklin Roosevelt and held that FTC commissioners could be removed only for cause, not at the president’s whim.

She said her ruling would uphold “clearly established law that has been enacted by a coequal branch of government, reaffirmed by another coequal branch, and acquiesced to by thirteen executives over the course of ninety years.”

But the judge acknowledged that hers probably would not be the last word. “Defendants are, of course, free to take their quarrels with Humphrey’s Executor to the Supreme Court. This court has no illusions about where this case’s journey leads,” she wrote.



Trump fired Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, the commission’s two Democratic members in March. The FTC is a regulator created by Congress that enforces consumer protection measures and antitrust legislation. Its seats typically include three members of the president’s party and two from the opposing party. The commissioners sued to reclaim their jobs, saying they’d been dismissed illegally. Slaughter has four years left in her term as commissioner. Bedoya submitted his resignation in June, and AliKhan dismissed his claim as a result.

“As the Court recognized today, the law is clear, and I look forward to getting back to work,” Slaughter said in a statement Thursday.

During a May court hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., plaintiffs’ attorneys warned against granting the president “absolute removal power over any executive officer,” saying it would effectively eliminate an important check on his power.


“That has never been the case in this country,” said attorney Aaron Crowell. “That’s not the law. That has never been the law.”

A politicized FTC also could favor powerful corporations while driving up prices for consumers, the lawyers for the fired commissioners said.

But attorneys for the Trump administration argued that the FTC’s role has expanded since the 1930s, and as such, its members should answer directly to the president.

“The president should be able to remove someone who is actively blocking his policies, for example,” Justice Department lawyer Emily Hall said during the hearing.

AliKhan, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Joe Biden in 2023, noted the long line of presidents before Trump who didn’t try to push the limits.

Commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. They serve seven-year terms that are staggered to prevent multiple vacancies at once. They can be fired for displaying specific bad behaviors, including inefficiency, neglect of duty and malfeasance in office.

Trump told Bedoya and Slaughter that he was dismissing them because their service on the commission was inconsistent with his administration’s priorities, according to the lawsuit.

Lea Skene And Mark Sherman, The Associated Press

Judge restores Democrat to Federal Trade Commission, ruling her firing by Trump was illegal

 

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In a massive prisoner swap deal, the Trump administration got over 200 Venezuelan migrants he deported to an infamous Salvadoran megaprison released in exchange for the Venezuelan government releasing 10 American citizens and permanent residents who were being held captive in that country, reported The New York Times on Friday.



The arrests of foreigners in Venezuela began late last year, according to the report: "Among them was Lucas Hunter, now 37, a U.S. and French citizen who had traveled to Colombia to go kite surfing, according to his family. In an interview, his sister, Sophie Hunter, said he was still in Colombia — close to its border with Venezuela — when he was nabbed by the Venezuelan government in early January. She has been working for his release ever since."

This follows another deal earlier this year that secured the release of six American prisoners from Venezuela after a Trump administration special envoy, Ric Grenell, visited the country.

Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.

Trump's deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to the CECOT prison in El Salvador was massively controversial, with lawyers saying they were not given due process. The administration cited the 1798 Alien Enemies Act for the deportations, and argued these migrants were members of the transnational criminal gang Tren de Aragua, but provided virtually no evidence of this.

El Salvador releases Venezuelan migrants deported by U.S. in swap for jailed Americans


Some family members of the migrants argue that the sole evidence against them was that they had a lot of tattoos.

The Supreme Court paused the use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations earlier this year, but has broadly greenlit many of the administration's other heavy-handed deportation practices.

Hundreds of deportees Trump shipped to El Salvador freed in deal for jailed Americans

 

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Dozens of Venezuelans that Donald Trump had deported to a brutal prison in El Salvador have been sent back to their home country under a bilateral deal to secure the release of Americans locked up in Venezuela.

Under the deal, more than 200 Venezuelans summarily deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, were flown to Caracas on Friday. In exchange, the Venezuelan government delivered five U.S. citizens and five lawful permanent residents back to American custody.


The prisoner swap follows the Trump administration’s allegedly bungled efforts to try to release Americans imprisoned in Venezuela in exchange for sending home dozens of men that the administration accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members.

The release of Venezuelans who have been imprisoned at the facility for more than four months could also potentially expose what they experienced inside and what conditions are like for hundreds of people languishing inside the notorious prison.

So far, only one person deported from the United States to CECOT has made it back.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran father who was living in Maryland, was abruptly returned to the United States after a weeks-long court battle over his arrest and removal. Administration officials initially said he was deported by mistake before repeatedly insisting the U.S. government no longer had jurisdiction over him. Last month, he was returned to face a federal criminal indictment in Tennessee accusing him of smuggling immigrants across the country.


A recent court filing detailed for the first time what current conditions at the Salvadoran prison are like for the dozens of Venezuelan immigrants still inside.

Abrego Garcia was subject to “severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture” at the facility, according to his attorneys.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele confirmed the prisoner exchange on Friday afternoon, saying his administration “handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua.”

The exchange includes “a considerable number of Venezuelan political prisoners, people that regime had kept in its prisons for years, as well as all the American citizens it was holding as hostages,” he said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Americans are “on their way to freedom” as he thanked the State Department and Bukele’s administration “for helping secure an agreement for the release of all of our American detainees, plus the release of Venezuelan political prisoners.”


Despite the Trump administration’s claims that deportees sent to the notorious maximum-security prison were no longer the responsibility of the United States, officials have been using them as a bargaining chip in a weeks-in-the-making prisoner exchange.

But those competing negotiations, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in one camp and presidential envoy Richard Grenell in another, had appeared to fall apart until Friday’s alleged breakthrough.



CECOT, branded a ‘tropical gulag’ by human rights groups, is the largest prison in Latin America, which the Trump administration has contracted to detain dozens of alleged Tren de Aragua members deported from the United States (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Their return had been a long-standing demand of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Nayib Bukele’s regime and the Trump administration of committing human rights abuses by locking up immigrants in the Salvadoran prison, labelled by humanitarian groups as a “tropical gulag” and concentration camp.


Roughly 250 Venezuelans were deported to El Salvador’s brutal Terrorism Confinement Center beginning March 15, when Trump invoked a centuries-old wartime law that labelled alleged Tren de Aragua gang members “alien enemies” who could be removed from the country without due process.

The White House claims that Maduro directed an “invasion” of gang members into the country — contradicting reports from U.S. intelligence agencies.

Government attorneys argued that the United States no longer has jurisdiction over deportees after ignoring emergency court orders that blocked their arrival in El Salvador. But Salvadoran authorities recently told the United Nations that the “legal responsibility for these people lie exclusively” with the U.S. government.

Bukele had first hinted at prospects of a “humanitarian agreement” with the countries in April, weeks after agreeing to imprison U.S. deportees in CECOT. Venezuelan officials, meanwhile, had dismissed the proposal and demanded the return of their “kidnapped” countrymen.


Several federal judges have temporarily blocked immigration officials from deporting more Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, teeing up yet another Supreme Court battle challenging the president’s sweeping executive actions related to his anti-immigration agenda.

Lawyers for deported immigrants inside CECOT have argued for class-action relief, which would give them an opportunity to challenge allegations against them in court.

“Significant evidence has come to light indicating that many of those currently entombed in CECOT have no connection to the gang and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations,” District Judge James Boasberg wrote last month.

Venezuelans deported by Trump to brutal El Salvador prison are transferred to Caracas in exchange for Americans

 

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Authorities detained a 15-year-old boy without a criminal record at Alligator Alcatraz amid the haste to fill up the Florida facility, according to reports.

As the state scrambled to open the controversial detention center, Alexis, the teenager, seems to have been caught up in the mix. On July 1, three days before the facility officially opened, Florida Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle packed with Alexis and his friends before handing him over to federal authorities, the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times first reported.



Alexis endured three days in the rapidly built facility consisting of tents and chain-link pens, his father told the Tampa Bay Times.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the facility, admitted he had been detained, explaining he lied about his age when officers stopped him.

“While at Alligator Alcatraz, an individual disclosed they had misrepresented their age upon arrest to ICE. Immediate action was taken to separate and remove the detainee in accordance with federal protocols,” a spokesperson for the division told The Independent in a statement. “This is one of many problems with illegal immigration: individuals are in our country without any way to verify their identity.”

Three days after he was detained, on July 4, authorities transferred the boy from Alligator Alcatraz to a shelter for migrant children that is operated by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Tampa Bay Times reported.


State officials told the outlet that Alligator Alcatraz doesn’t house minors. It’s unclear what steps are being taken to prevent something similar from happening in the future. The Independent has reached out to a spokesperson for the governor’s office for more information.

The episode captures the chaos around the facility’s opening. Alligator Alcatraz, constructed to help accelerate President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, was meant to hold the “most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet," the president said. As of this week, the facility holds more than 700 people, but only one-third of them have criminal convictions, reports found.

“The case is important to highlight to ensure that there is oversight and safeguards in place because an adult facility is not a place for a child,” immigration attorney Alexandra Manrique Alfonso told the Times.

The 15-year-old was handcuffed while being transferred to the facility, Manrique Alfonso said, noting that he had been housed with adults.



President Donald Trump visits the temporary migrant detention center, where he claims ‘some of the most vicious people on the planet’ would be held — although only one-third of the more than 700 people detained have criminal convictions, according to a preliminary review (Reuters)
Ignacio, the teen’s father, told the Times that he believes his son told authorities he was an adult when the car was pulled over because he was afraid of being separated from the group if he mentioned his true age: “It was because of fear.”

Ignacio only learned his son was detained after one of the teen’s friends called from the facility — three days later. Alexis later called his father, who told him to come clean to officials that he was a minor. Ignacio then sent a photo of Alexis’ birth certificate via text and told his son to ask for permission to use his phone to prove his age; he was transferred after they confirmed his age, the outlet reported.


Now, Ignacio is trying to reunite with Alexis. He’s even taking a paternity test.

“It is very sad that a lot of families are being separated,” he told the outlet. The father came to the U.S. in 2018 after fleeing his hometown of Chiapas, Mexico due to violence; his son followed him to Florida two years later, the outlet reported.

“When you’re apart from your kids, you miss them. If you don’t see them, you feel their absence,” the father told the Times. “I am pleading with God that we can be reunited.”

A 15-year-old boy with no criminal history ended up at Alligator Alcatraz after rush to fill facility

 

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Hacked data from an airline carrying out President Donald Trump's deportations allegedly shows that 'dozens' of migrants did not appear on manifests published by the U.S. government.

The hacked material, first obtained by 404 Media, reportedly shows that on three deportation flights from Texas to El Salvador there are scores of individuals who do not appear on the official lists of deportees provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).


The deportees were sent to El Salvador's notorious CECOT mega-prison, the largest detention facility in the world where the U.S. is sending recently deported individuals.

The flights were operated by GlobalX, the same airline that hackers breached to discover the files on the migrant flights.

CBS News unveiled earlier this year a list of those included on the three March 15 deportation flights operated by GlobalX, amounting to 238 men in total.

However, the data obtained through the hack reportedly shows additional names on the flight manifest that were not included on the list provided to CBS.

This disclosure has set off alarms for liberals who have long railed against Trump's deportations for being opaque and ignoring due process.

'We have this list of people that the U.S. government has not formally acknowledged in any real way and we pretty much have no idea if they are in CECOT or someplace else, or whether they received due process,' Michelle Brané, a former DHS official under Joe Biden, told 404 Media.

A report from 404 Media claims that the hacked manifests of three March 15 deportation flights operated by GlobalX show more passengers than the previously reported list of deportees

The three flights brought 238 men to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, according to a CBS News report. However, the hacked manifests obtained by 404 Media show that the planes had 281 passengers
'I think this further demonstrates the callousness and lack of due process involved and is further evidence that the US government is disappearing people,' she continued.

'These people were detained and no one knows where they are, and we don't know the circumstances […] For almost all of these people, there's no records whatsoever. No court records, nothing.'


The White House referred the Daily Mail to DHS when reached for comment.

'ICE does not “disappear” people,' DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLauchlin told the Daily Mal in a statement. 'This is a ridiculous lie that the media is peddling to demonize ICE law enforcement who are facing an 830% increase in assaults against them.'

'Claims that transfers of detainees are being “weaponized” are categorically false. Once an alien is transferred to ICE custody, the agency makes a custody determination based on bed space and ensures their presence for immigration proceedings or removal from the United States,' she added.

Despite CBS News reporting that only 238 men were aboard the deportation flights, the hackers uncovered a manifest from GlobalX indicating that at least 281 people were deported on the three flights.

According to 404 Media, there were over 40 men and women whose presence on the flights were never acknowledged by the U.S. government.

'[The government is] not disclosing it and they've presumably been sent to a prison or sent somewhere by the U.S. government on a plane and have never been heard from since,' Brané said.

Prisoners are handled by CECOT prison guards inside the sprawling facility

President Donald Trump promised to carry out the largest deportation operation ever if elected. So far his administration has removed over 100,000 migrants from the U.S.
'We have not heard from these people's families, so I think perhaps even they don't know.'

The former Biden DHS official shared that it is unclear whether the people on the hacked manifest were actually on the flight, adding questions remain about why these individuals were on the manifests in the first place.



The whereabouts and condition of the dozens of individuals on the hacked manifests remain unknown, the report states.

One of those named in the hacked manifests was arrested in Texas in December for drug possession charges, the outlet claims. They were listed in arrest records as an 'illegal alien.'

Another person was arrested in Nashville for driving without a license.

Read more

Trump admin loses track of 'dozens' of illegal migrants on El Salvador deportation flight

 

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View attachment 463233

View attachment 463234

This really is looking like the plan all along was to try and set up this trade.
Which is pretty fucked up.

 

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This really is looking like the plan all along was to try and set up this trade.
Which is pretty fucked up.

You're assuming they're smart enough to make up sophisticated plans in advance.

 

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Former Donald Trump attorney Alina Habba is all but certain to be headed for the door next week leaving behind portraits of herself on the walls and disgruntled staffers after her brief stint as a U.S. attorney comes to an end.

According to a report from the New York Times, her appointment as the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey on an interim basis began in "chaos" and is now drawing to a close, with employees looking forward to her departure while also considering leaving too.


Habba's appointment as a the U.S. attorney was derailed by both of New Jersey's Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim, limiting her to a 120-day term in office.

According to the Times, "Her tenure has also shattered morale inside the U.S. attorney’s office and left many prosecutors looking for a way out, according to 16 close observers of the office," adding that she has infuriated career prosecutors by interjecting herself into their cases and keeping them out of the loop.

Case in point, the Times' Jonah E. Bromwich and Tracey Tully wrote Habba "granted a rare private meeting" with attorneys for Eliyahu Weinstein who was facing a 24-year sentence for investment fraud without inviting the attorneys handling the case.


"Prosecutors have chafed at her availability to defense lawyers. She disbanded the office’s Civil Rights Division and killed the office’s longest-running prosecution just days before it was scheduled to go to trial.," the Times is reporting before adding, "Three framed pictures of herself now hang in a conference room named for a legendary New Jersey crime fighter, Frederick B. Lacey."

Habba's future in the office now lies with the state’s district court judges, who have the ability to extend her time in office which is scheduled to end on Tuesday.

You can read more here

Alina Habba leaving behind angry staff and portraits of herself on the walls as job ends

Former Donald Trump attorney Alina Habba is all but certain to be headed for the door next week leaving behind portraits of herself on the walls and disgruntled staffers after her brief stint as a U.S. attorney comes to an end.According to a report from the New York Times, her appointment as the...

www.rawstory.com

 

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You're assuming they're smart enough to make up sophisticated plans in advance.

They can.
Maybe not great plans or ones that are well-executed, but they can plan to some degree.

 

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President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Alina Habba, was admonished in a New Jersey court when Judge André Espinosa of U.S. District Court found her arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka inappropriate.

Raw Story reported in May that the dressing down of the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey by the judge was so significant that the mayor was caught on a hot mic commenting: “Jesus, he tore these people a new a--hole. Good grief.”


Baraka was arrested on trespassing charges on May 9 after attempting to enter an ICE facility in Newark with members of Congress. The charges were dropped days later, but Habba still went to court.

Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.

But more details about the dressing down were released Monday.

National security expert Marcy Wheeler posted the full transcript, as provided by the court reporter, in a post on X on Monday.

Habba's last day in her interim post is Tuesday, unless a panel of judges steps in to extend her job. So far, the appointment has been stalled in the Senate.

"I don't want to belabor the proceeding today," the judge began, noting that they were there after Habba's office claimed to be prosecuting the mayor, only to drop the charges before discussing the case in court.

The judge then eviscerated Habba's office.

"Please consider sharing with your colleagues this modest reminder of your unique duty as federal prosecutors. Your Office serves the 9.5 million people who live in the District of New Jersey, and your colleagues are charged with working to protect those people and the 13 interests of the Constitution under which we all live and that you and every one of your colleagues swore to uphold when you joined that Office," the judge said.

"This is an immense responsibility with which comes an imperative for meticulous diligence and unwavering integrity."

He cited a 1940 address by the Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, who warned against the temptation to prosecute for every possible offense. He told prosecutors, "the citizen's safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes."


Espinosa said it's clear Jackson understood the duty of the prosecutor was for the people, not for a political party or others.

"Justice Jackson warned against using the immense power of the government to pursue weak cases or to make examples without sufficient cause," the judge continued. "Your discretion, therefore, is not merely a legal tool but a moral compass guiding the exercise of immense power. It demands a judicious restraint, a deep respect for individual liberty, and an unwavering commitment to the principle that justice is never served by arbitrary or ill-conceived actions."

In this case, in particular, the judge stated that the arrest was "hasty" and "followed by the swift dismissal a mere 13 days later."

He blasted Habba, claiming that arresting a public figure isn't to trigger an investigation. It's the other way around; the investigation should lead to an arrest. It has been key for the office "particularly over the last two decades," Judge Espinosa added.


The legacy has been "one of careful deliberative action," the judge said. It implies that in this case, it was clearly ignored. He said that the office only brings charges after an "exhaustive" search for evidence.

"So let this incident serve as an inflection point and a reminder to uphold your solemn oath to the people of this district and to your client Justice itself and ensure that every charge brought is the product of rigorous investigation and earned confidence in its merit mirroring the exemplary conduct that has long defined your Office," he said.

Read the full comments here.

Judge gives Alina Habba lesson in law during blistering rebuke