Alina Habba's 'Legally Blonde' Moment Straight out of a TV Trial—Lawyer

A heated exchange between Donald Trump's attorney Alina Habba and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding over writer E. Jean Carroll's second defamation case against the former president, has been compared to a scene from the hit 2001 movie Legally Blonde by legal commentator Joyce Vance.

The exchange took place on January 17 after Habba asked Kaplan to postpone the trial to the following week to allow Trump to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs, who died on January 9.

Kaplan said the court "offers its condolences" to the Trump family but flatly rejected the request, commenting: "The application is denied. I will hear no further argument on it, none. Do you understand that word? None. Please sit down."

Habba immediately hit back, replying: "I don't like to be spoken to that way and we're going to be here for several days. I'm not going to speak to Carroll lawyer Roberta Kaplan like that, I will not speak to you like that. I'm asking your honor to please refrain from speaking to me in that manner."

Vance, formerly U.S. attorney for the northern district of Alabama, discussed the exchange on the CAFE Insider podcast which she co-hosts with Preet Bharara, who used to serve as U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York. She commented: "This is a scene from Legally Blonde right?...There are ways to do this but it's not 'oh judge this is Mean Girls in high school and I'm going to out-mean you.'"

In Legally Blonde, former sorority girl Elle Woods, played by Reese Witherspoon, attempts to succeed in the legal world in the face of sexist stereotyping.

Asked by Bharara whether she would "ever say to a judge, even the most obnoxious unfair judge, I don't like to be spoken to that way?" Vance replied: "No, I would never say that in court." Questioned whether it would be helpful, she added: "There is no crying in baseball."

Bharara was also less than impressed by Habba, who in addition to representing Trump in court has spent time with the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner at his Mar-a-Lago private members club.

On the podcast, he said: "The criticism of Alina Habba was less criticism of her and more a real bewilderment that she was the best a former president could field in a case of this significance."

Referring to Trump's lawyers in general, Bharara said: "There are some highly capable smart good lawyers, there are some who potentially are criminal defendants and may be convicted felons on their own, then there's the area I put Alina Habba in, which is in over their head."

Newsweek has reached out to Alina Habba for comment by email.

In May 2023, a jury in New York concluded Trump had sexually abused Carroll in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store during the 1990s, then defamed her when she spoke out publicly, and the former president was ordered to pay $5 million in damages.

Trump denied wrongdoing, describing the outcome as part of "the greatest witch hunt of all time" and continued criticizing Carroll, prompting a second defamation case in which the writer is seeking $10 million worth of compensation.

The trial was postponed on Monday after one of the nine jurors reported being unwell, whilst Habba also said she felt poorly after being with her parents, one or both of whom were exposed to coronavirus. The trial is due to resume on Wednesday.