Amid Escalating Chaos in New Jersey’s Federal Courts due to a Leadership Vacuum, the State’s District Court judges and the Trump (R) Administration appear to have reached a Deal on Who will Lead the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In a One-Sentence Order Posted to the New Jersey Courts’ Website Monday, Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb announced that Robert Frazer, a Career Prosecutor in the Office and Currently its Senior Trial Counsel, has been Appointed U.S. Attorney Effective 3/23/2026.
The Appointment will Not Expire, Unless and Until a Presidentially Nominated Successor is Confirmed, though Trump has Fired Judicially Appointed Interim U.S. Attorneys in New Jersey and Elsewhere.
But this Pick appears to have the Support of the Trump Administration, based on a Social Media Post from Alina Habba, who Filled the job in 2025 before Resigning, after a Curt Ruled She could Not Hold it. Habba, who now Works as a Senior Adviser to the U.S. Attorney General, Praised Frazer, and Suggested that the Trump Administration and the District Court’s Judges had Worked together to Pick Him for the Job.
”New Jersey deserves a great chief federal law enforcement official who is in line with President Trump’s agenda of making this country safe and NJ great! I know Rob well and he will be a great champion of this state and mission” of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Habba wrote on Social Media. She added that it “should be clear” that when Judges Work with the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney Ggeneral under Trump “to collaborate on serving what an overwhelming majority of Americans asked for at the ballots and not attack mindlessly for political gain THINGS GET DONE.”
Little public information is available about Frazer, though based on a Letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, He has more than Two Decades of Experience in the Office, having Served through several Presidential Administrations.
The Judges used a 160-year-old Power that gives them Power to Fill Pprosecutorial Vacancies in certain Iinstances. Usually, the Nation’s U.S. Attorneys are Nominated by the President and Confirmed by the Senate.
But Trump has sought Repeatedly to Sidestep that Process using a Series of Maneuvers to Install Prosecutors that Courts have Repeatedly Rejected, in New Jersey and Elsewhere.
After Habba’s Interim Aappointment Expired in July, the Jjudges Voted to Iinstead Fill the Role with Her First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Desiree Leigh Grace (R). But the Trump Administration Quickly Fired Grace and through a Series of Maneuvers Rei-Istalled Habba in that Position.
Defense attorneys then Challenged Habba’s Ability to Serve in the Role for Months without Senate Confirmation. A Judge Ruled She had Illegally Held the Job. She Stepped Down. Then the Trump Administration Installed a Trio of Prosecutors to Run the Office, an Unprecedented Arrangement that a Court also Rejected Weeks ago, leaving Cases in Limbo.
The Uncertainty over the Leadership of the Office had Endangered Cases and Gotten on Judges’ Nerves. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi Refused to Go Forward with a Sentencing Hearing and Ordered the Trio of Prosecutors Leading the Office, Ari Fontecchio, Philip Lamparello, and Jordan Fox. to Testify on the Leadership Structure of the Office. He also Questioned whether Habba still had a Role in Leading it.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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