A federal judge has appointed veteran prosecutor Robert Frazer as the new U.S. attorney for New Jersey, resolving a conflict between the judiciary and the Trump administration over control of the office. The one-sentence order issued on Monday followed an agreement between federal judges and the Department of Justice.
The appointment ends a period of uncertainty that began when U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann disqualified three Justice Department officials who had been sharing authority over the office. Brann ruled that the officials—Philip Lamparello, Jordan Fox, and Ari Fontecchio—were appointed in an illegal power grab by the Trump administration. They had replaced Alina Habba, Trump's former personal attorney, whom Brann barred from the role last year because she had served too long without Senate confirmation.
The Justice Department thanked the court for working to appoint Frazer, stating that criminal prosecutions can now resume without needless challenge or delay. Frazer had been serving as senior trial counsel in the New Jersey U.S. attorney's office.
Habba, now a senior adviser at the Justice Department, congratulated Frazer on social media, saying New Jersey deserves a chief federal law enforcement official aligned with President Trump's agenda. The appointment comes amid broader disputes over the process for selecting U.S. attorneys, with judges in other states also ruling that Trump administration appointees were serving unlawfully.
