Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration's Plan to Move FBI Headquarters to Washington

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's plan to relocate the new FBI headquarters to Washington, D.C., rather than Greenbelt, Maryland, which had been selected in 2023 to host the new facility, Nate Raymond reported for Reuters.

The J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., is the FBI's current headquarters as a federal judge blocks the Trump administration's plan to relocate the agency's new headquarters.

US District Judge Theodore Chuang sided with Maryland and Prince George's County, ruling that the administration unlawfully scrapped the plan to construct the new FBI headquarters in Greenbelt and attempted to redirect money that Congress had approved for the project to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. 

Congressional legislation passed in 2022 and 2023 required the General Services Administration (GSA) to select the headquarters site from three locations outside Washington: Greenbelt and Landover in Maryland and Springfield, Virginia.

The GSA selected Greenbelt in 2023 during the Biden administration. 

The Trump administration reversed that decision in 2025, citing cost savings, and sought to move the project to the Ronald Reagan Building. The administration also attempted to redirect $555 million in funding toward the Washington location. 

Judge Chuang ruled that the administration did not have the authority to unilaterally abandon the congressionally established site-selection process or redirect the designated funding to a location that did not comply with the statutory requirements. 

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown welcomed the ruling, saying it cleared the way for the headquarters project to return to Greenbelt.

The FBI, however, criticized the decision as politically motivated and said it remained committed to finding an efficient solution for its headquarters needs. 

The FBI has sought a replacement for its aging J. Edgar Hoover Building for nearly 15 years. The ruling represents another development in the long-running dispute over where the agency's new headquarters should be built.