Early Tuesday afternoon, a panel of federal judges in New Jersey named Desiree L. Grace as the state’s top prosecutor, bypassing Alina Habba, President Trump’s former personal lawyer who has been the state’s interim U.S. attorney since late March.
But hours after the judges named Ms. Grace U.S. attorney at the conclusion of Ms. Habba’s 120-day temporary term, Mr. Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, announced on social media that Ms. Grace had been fired.
“This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges,” Ms. Bondi wrote.
The district’s chief judge, Renée Marie Bumb, who signed the order appointing Ms. Grace, said through an aide that “the court will have no comment.”
The U.S. attorney’s office in Newark was instantly thrust into disarray, with no clear leader, as top lawyers in the state tried to make sense of the crisis now gripping New Jersey’s pre-eminent law enforcement office.
Here’s what we know about Ms. Grace, a 37-year-old rising legal star at the center of a battle with little precedent:
Ms. Habba’s No. 2
Ms. Grace, who is known as Desi to colleagues, joined the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey in 2016, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She rose rapidly in the Newark office, first leading its violent crimes unit and then its criminal division before being named Ms. Habba’s first assistant in April.
Ms. Habba appointed Ms. Grace as her No. 2 deputy soon after being named by Mr. Trump as interim U.S. attorney.
Ms. Grace’s colleagues were broadly supportive of Ms. Habba’s decision, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former prosecutors and defense lawyers familiar with the office’s dynamics.
She was seen as an experienced and no-nonsense prosecutor capable of helping to lead the office during a period of tumult. In May, she got a standing ovation when she spoke at a District of New Jersey alumni dinner, an annual event that draws current and former federal prosecutors.
Promoted During Mr. Trump’s First Term
After four years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Newark, Ms. Grace was named acting chief of the violent crimes unit in August 2020, when the office was led by Craig Carpenito, who was appointed during Mr. Trump’s first term as president.
Less than two years later, she became acting chief of the criminal division, which handles many of the District of New Jersey’s highest-profile cases. In March 2024, she was named chief of the criminal division, according to LinkedIn.
As a prosecutor, she led cases involving gang violence and health care fraud, according to news releases.
In May, Ms. Grace represented the government in court after Mayor Ras J. Baraka of Newark, a Democrat, was arrested outside an immigration detention facility in Newark. Less than two weeks later, Ms. Habba moved to dismiss the trespassing charge filed against Mr. Baraka, drawing an unusual public rebuke from a federal judge, who called it a “hasty arrest” and an “embarrassing retraction of charges.”
Early Career
Ms. Grace attended high school in New Jersey and is a graduate of the University of Maryland and Seton Hall Law School, where she was managing editor of the Law Review.
She clerked for two judges: Stuart Rabner, the chief justice of New Jersey’s Supreme Court; and Morton I. Greenberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Greenberg, who died in 2021, was nominated to the lifetime job by former President Ronald Reagan.
Ms. Grace also worked for two years at McCarter & English, a large law firm based in Newark.
Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting.
Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.
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