Acting U.S. Attorney for NJ 'acting without legal authority'

NEW JERSEY - A federal judge ruled that acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba has been acting without legal authority for over a month.

Acting U.S. attorney unlawfully serving

What we know:

A judge was set to decide whether Habba could continue to serve as New Jersey's acting U.S. Attorney after President Donald Trump avoided the Senate confirmation process required to keep her in the position.

The Justice Department fought to keep Habba in place as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey on Tuesday after a panel of judges refused to extend her tenure and appointed someone else to the job.

The backstory:

Habba is President Trump's former personal defense attorney. Habba, who had been named the interim U.S. attorney for the state in March, was set to lose the position when judges in the district declined to keep her in the post.

Acting under a law that generally limits the terms of interim U.S. attorneys to 120 days, the judges appointed one of Habba's subordinates, Desiree Leigh Grace, as her successor.

But just hours later, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she had in turn removed Grace, blaming Habba's removal on "politically minded judges."