A recent decision by a federal judge in Maryland halted the efforts by the Trump administration to relocate the proposed FBI headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. This decision came after the Biden administration unveiled a 2023 plan to move the headquarters to Greenbelt, Maryland.
In July 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the bureau would consider moving just a few blocks away. He cited the Reagan Building as the “most cost-effective and resource-efficient way to carry out our mission.” However, Maryland took legal action in November, accusing Patel and the bureau of unlawfully attempting to sabotage the 2023 plan. They also claimed the administration illegally redirected more than $323 million from Congress that was designated for the Greenbelt project.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled in favor of Maryland. In a 47-page opinion, he deemed the Trump administration’s decision to divert funding and cancel the plan as “arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law,” noting several violations of federal law.
The FBI’s current headquarters is located at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington, where it has been since 1975. Despite its longstanding presence, structural issues have beset the building over the past two decades. Last year, an effort by the Trump administration, along with the General Services Administration, settled on moving to the Reagan Building. Previously the site housed the U.S. Agency for International Development until 2025, when its functions were consolidated into the State Department and Customs and Border Protection assumed the lease.
President Trump expressed opposition to the relocation plan, criticizing Maryland as a “liberal state” during a Justice Department speech last year. During his first term, he considered moving the FBI headquarters but abandoned a plan for Maryland or Virginia locations. Instead, he suggested a smaller building in Washington.
However, the Biden administration, through the GSA, selected the Greenbelt site. This choice concluded a 15-year discussion about where to relocate the headquarters. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown commented on the court ruling, saying, “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 has not yet released a comment regarding the judge’s decision.
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