Judge blocks plan to move FBI headquarters to Reagan Building
Court Rules Against FBI Headquarters Relocation to Reagan Building
Wertynews.com – A federal district judge in Maryland issued a ruling on Monday that halts the Trump administration's effort to shift the FBI's planned new headquarters into the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. The decision reverses a pivot made by the bureau's leadership and restores momentum to a competing proposal first floated under the prior administration.
The Original Greenbelt Proposal
In 2023, the Biden-era General Services Administration selected a site in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the bureau's future headquarters. That choice brought closure to roughly 15 years of internal debate over whether the agency should leave its current location at all. Congress subsequently earmarked more than $323 million to fund the project.
Patel's Counter-Move
In July 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the bureau would instead relocate just a few blocks from its present address, pointing to the Reagan Building as the destination. He characterized the choice as
"the most cost-effective and resource-efficient way to carry out our mission."
The Reagan Building had housed the U.S. Agency for International Development until 2025, when the Trump administration folded USAID into the State Department and transferred the building's lease to Customs and Border Protection.
Maryland Sues
By November of last year, the state of Maryland had filed suit against Patel and the bureau. The complaint alleged that the administration sought to "unlawfully sabotage" the Greenbelt plan and had illegally redirected congressional funding away from the approved project.
Judge Chuang's Ruling
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled in Maryland's favor, delivering a 47-page opinion that found the administration's decision to cancel the Greenbelt plan and divert its funding was
"arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law,"
while also identifying additional violations of federal statutes.
Background: The Hoover Building and Structural Concerns
The FBI has operated from the J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington since 1975. For approximately two decades, however, structural deficiencies in that facility have prompted repeated calls for relocation.
Trump's Prior Positions
During his first term, President Trump explored moving the bureau but ultimately scrapped a proposal that would have placed it at one of three candidate sites in Maryland or Virginia. He later floated the idea of a smaller Washington headquarters to supplant the Hoover Building. More recently, at a Justice Department speech last year, he dismissed Maryland as a "liberal state" while criticizing the state's pursuit of the headquarters.
Maryland's Response
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown issued a statement following the ruling:
"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 had not responded to a request for comment as of publication.
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