Court Blocks FBI Headquarters Shift to Reagan Building

A federal judge on Monday halted the Trump administration's plan to relocate the FBI's headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., ruling that the decision to abandon a previously approved Maryland site violated federal law.

U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang found that the administration's reversal of the Greenbelt, Maryland, selection was "not in accordance with law." The ruling blocks any move to the Reagan Building, renovation work there, or use of funds for that purpose.

The decision is the latest turn in a long-running dispute over the FBI's main office. The Greenbelt site was chosen during the Biden administration after a competitive process between Maryland and Virginia. Trump appointees later sought to scrap that plan in favor of repurposing the Reagan Building, located a few blocks from the FBI's current headquarters.

The lawsuit was filed by the state of Maryland and Prince George's County. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown welcomed the ruling, noting that the state had invested over a decade of effort and pledged hundreds of millions of dollars toward the Greenbelt project. He said the court's decision "cleared the path back to Greenbelt."

The FBI's existing headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, dates to 1975. The aging brutalist structure has deteriorated, with nets in place to protect pedestrians from falling debris, prompting long-standing calls for a new facility.

Justice Department and FBI officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.