Well, all 17 of New Jersey's federal judges met this morning to determine the fate of acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, whose status remains unclear at this hour.

Habba's 120-day term expires tomorrow, and as first reported by NJ Globe, U.S. District Court judges have a few options for what comes next.

They can vote by majority to appoint a U.S. attorney if no one else is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, or they can do nothing, which would automatically place first assistant U.S. attorney Desiree Grace into the job.

The judges, though, are facing increasing pressure from the White House after a top Justice Department official told the chief judge that President Trump has complete confidence in Habba, who also served as the president's personal attorney, and wants the judges to extend her time in office.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz takes a look back at her brief but eventful time in the seat.

We could turn New Jersey red.

Alina Habba was clear from the start.

The former personal attorney to the president saw her role here as the tip of a political spear targeting Democrats, from Governor Phil Murphy to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested outside the Delaney Hall detention center during this demonstration.

Also indicted was sitting Congresswoman Lamonica McIver on assault and other charges stemming from the same incident.

While Habba's office rarely responds to state press, she is active on social media, using her ex-account to clap back at Baraka and to announce the McIver indictment.

Everywhere you look since her appointment in March, Habba and the aggressive tactics of her office have been the topic of conversation.

They had no grounds to arrest me.

The charge was heinous.

It was an overreach.

And that's why they dropped it, because it was absolutely wrong.

I will not stand for it.

They will not intimidate me.

They will not stop me from doing my job.

I will continue to do what the people of the 10th Congressional District elected me to do.

Yes, that's Paul Fishman, a former U.S. attorney himself, standing next to McIver.

He's representing her, in case you're into irony.

Habba has also announced that she's investigating Governor Phil Murphy for comments he made about harboring an undocumented friend in his home.

She's also sued several New Jersey cities for their sanctuary policies, announced an election integrity task force that progressives have criticized as voter intimidation.

Oh, and she also disbanded the office's civil rights division.

That's a lot from an office that usually doesn't make much noise.

I'm concerned about the way the office has been run.

I think politics being put ahead of public safety is not a good thing.

And the job historically in New Jersey, we've had very close relationships between the attorney general and the United States Attorney's Office across parties.

And that's for good reason, because public safety is the most important thing.

And when we politicize that, people get hurt.

The last U.S. attorney for New Jersey to have such a high profile was Bush II appointee Chris Christie.

He went on to serve two terms as governor and ran for president twice.

So is there a method to the Habba madness?

Maybe a run for federal office?

Maybe not so fast, says analyst Micah Rasmussen of the Rebovich Institute at Rider.

Sometimes a firework is just a firework and it's intended for splash.

And I think that that's certainly been the case so far.

I know that they'd rather be discussing that stuff than Epstein or anything else that puts them on the defensive.

And so, you know, they feel that with someone like Habba, who is loyal and who is very close with the president, that they would have somebody who who is reliable in that way.

Administration officials had been signaling all week to the judges that Habba had the full support of the president.

Even as the judges, almost all Obama or Biden appointees, deliberated today, there were calls for ethics investigations from the left and from the right, charging the other with rules violation for calling on the judge to decide in their favor, as if politics had anything to do with today's decision.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

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