A federal judge in Maryland has stopped the relocation of the FBI’s headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. This decision counters an earlier plan by the Biden administration to move the headquarters to Greenbelt, Maryland, announced in 2023.
In July 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel stated that moving to the Reagan Building would be the most economical and efficient choice. However, the state of Maryland sued Patel and the FBI, claiming that the Trump administration unlawfully tried to halt the 2023 plan and misused over $323 million designated by Congress for the relocation.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang agreed with Maryland. In his 47-page opinion, he stated that the actions to divert funds were “arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law,” along with other federal law violations.
The FBI has been housed at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington since 1975, but has faced structural issues for the past 20 years. The Trump administration had settled on moving to the Reagan Building, which previously housed the U.S. Agency for International Development until its consolidation into the State Department in 2025, allowing Customs and Border Protection to take over the lease.
President Trump criticized the plan to move to Maryland, labeling the state as liberal in a Justice Department speech. During his first term, Trump considered moving the FBI but discarded a plan involving locations in Maryland or Virginia, opting for a smaller headquarters in Washington instead.
The General Services Administration (GSA) under the Biden administration chose Greenbelt, ending a 15-year-long debate on the FBI’s relocation. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown commented that over a decade of effort had been dedicated to securing the headquarters for Greenbelt and that the Court’s decision restored the original plan.
The FBI has yet to comment on the situation.