A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s plan to relocate the FBI headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., restoring a years-long effort to move the agency to Greenbelt, Maryland. U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the Greenbelt site and divert Congressional funding violated federal law.
In a 47-page opinion, Judge Chuang found the administration’s move to be “arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law.” The judge determined that Congress, through legislation passed in 2022 and 2023, had explicitly required the General Services Administration to select a new FBI headquarters site from among three specific locations outside Washington: Greenbelt; Landover, Maryland; or Springfield, Virginia. The Reagan Building, located in downtown D.C., did not meet those Congressional requirements.
The ruling also blocked the diversion of $555 million in Congressional funding that had been approved for the Greenbelt project. Reuters reported that Judge Chuang wrote: “Notably, the text provides no conditions under which the selection could be unilaterally rescinded or switched to a nonconforming site.” Because the administration lacked authority to pick the Reagan Building, it likewise could not legally redirect the funds.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, a Democrat, declared victory in a statement, saying: “Congress made a promise. The Trump administration tried to break it. Now, the jobs, investment, and opportunity Marylanders deserve are within reach.” Maryland and Prince George’s County had filed the lawsuit in November 2025, after the Trump administration announced its Reagan Building plan in July 2025.
The FBI has occupied the deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington since 1975. According to the Architecture Foundation, the building suffers from crumbling concrete, aging water systems, and faulty HVAC equipment—problems documented for over two decades. FBI Director Kash Patel had argued that the Reagan Building, which had been vacated by the U.S. Agency for International Development after the Trump administration dismantled that agency, offered a faster and more cost-effective solution.
The Greenbelt site, selected by the Biden administration’s GSA in November 2023 after a 15-year process, represents the culmination of bipartisan effort to resolve a decades-long debate over the FBI’s future home. The project timeline envisioned design work from 2026 to 2028, followed by construction between 2029 and 2035, with occupancy targeted for the mid-2030s. The Greenbelt location offers proximity to public transit and was chosen over competing proposals from Virginia and Maryland.
An FBI spokesperson responded to the ruling by stating: “This is not the first time courts have tried to undermine the administration in its goal to make government more cost-effective for American taxpayers. The court has chosen to impermissibly intervene for political reasons.” The FBI said it would “continue the best course of action to meet the needs of law enforcement,” though the judge’s order blocks the agency from moving forward with the Reagan Building relocation.
Sources
- CBS News — Judge Chuang’s 47-page ruling, the Trump administration’s July 2025 Reagan Building announcement, and Maryland’s November 2025 lawsuit filing
- Reuters — The judge’s reasoning on Congressional requirements, the $555 million funding diversion, and the legal framework for GSA site selection
- Maryland Attorney General’s Office — Official statement on the ruling and the state’s legal victory
- Architecture Foundation and federal sources — Structural deterioration of the J. Edgar Hoover Building and the 15-year site-selection process
