Habba as Special Attorney to the Attorney General and First Assistant U.S. Attorney, potentially allowing her to serve as Acting U.S. Attorney for at least 210 days following the withdrawal of her nomination on July 24, 2025. Habba’s nomination prevented her from serving as U.S. Attorney because she was not the first assistant to the position for

While the first assistant is the default acting officer, the President may invoke 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(2) or (3) to override this default and select another eligible acting officer. First, the President may direct a Senate-confirmed official to serve as acting officer. Second, the President can select a senior employee from the agency, if that emplo

who are not confirmed to the offices. Two statutes potentially allow temporary service for U.S. Attorneys: the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (Vacancies Act) and 28 U.S.C. § 546. (U.S. Attorney offices may also be filled temporarily by recess appointment, though this constitutional power has not been used since 2012.) This Legal Sidebar disc

investment in refining and storage infrastructure would reduce Kazakhstan’s reliance on pipeline-based crude exports. Such an investment would enable more flexible trade in processed fuels, and it would also support industrial development. Geopolitically, Kazakhstan can deepen its trilateral coordination with Turkey and Azerbaijan through joint c

Buffering and Rebalancing in the Near Term In the near term, three possibilities present themselves. First, Kazakhstan can modestly increase export volumes via the Aktau–Baku maritime corridor, feeding into the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. This westward route provides some diversification, though its utility is bounded by throughput co