Federal Judge Blocks Plan to Relocate FBI Headquarters to D.C.

In a significant legal decision, a federal judge in Maryland has blocked an initiative by the Trump administration to relocate the FBI’s proposed headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. This move comes after a 2023 plan by the Biden administration to base the headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland.

In July 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel expressed the bureau’s decision to shift to the Reagan Building, citing it as the most cost-effective and resource-efficient choice. However, the state of Maryland sued Patel and the FBI, claiming the Trump administration unlawfully attempted to derail the 2023 plan and redirect over $323 million of Congress-allocated funding.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang sided with Maryland with a 47-page opinion. The judge deemed the diversion of funds and cancellation of the plan by the Trump administration as “arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law.” The decision pointed to other federal law violations as well.

The FBI has operated from the J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington since 1975, though it faced structural issues over the past 20 years. Initially, the Trump administration and the General Services Administration (GSA) settled on relocating to the Reagan Building, formerly home to the U.S. Agency for International Development until 2025.

President Trump had once considered relocating the FBI to Maryland or Virginia during his first term. However, he later proposed a smaller headquarters in Washington to replace the Hoover Building. President Biden’s administration finalized the choice of Greenbelt, settling a long-standing debate over the headquarters’ location.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown remarked, “Maryland and Prince George’s County committed more than a decade of work to earn the FBI headquarters and pledged hundreds of millions of dollars. By blocking the Trump Administration’s unlawful attempt to move the FBI to the Reagan Building and divert the funds Congress set aside for this project, the Court has cleared the path back to Greenbelt.”

The FBI did not comment immediately following the decision.