The administration sought to keep the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to abandon its plans to keep the FBI headquarters in D.C., ruling it was improper for the Justice Department to usurp the U.S. General Services Administration’s Biden-era decision to relocate the agency to Maryland.
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In a forceful order issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang in Maryland barred FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Todd Blanche from moving the bureau to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Northwest Washington.
The Justice Department and FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D) said in a statement that the legal victory is “about more than a building.”
“It is about ensuring that when Congress makes a decision, the Federal Government cannot simply ignore it because they do not like the outcome,” Brown said. “Congress made a promise. The Trump Administration tried to break it. Now, the jobs, investment, and opportunity Marylanders deserve are within reach.”
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees federal real estate, approved a plan in 2023 during the Biden administration to move the FBI from its current headquarters inside the J. Edgar Hoover Building in D.C. to Prince George’s County, a suburb located east of the nation’s capital. That decision, which came after a years-long review process, was then changed by the Trump administration.
Attorneys representing Brown’s office and Prince George’s County filed a lawsuit in November 2025 alleging that the Trump administration had violated federal law when it disregarded explicit congressional directives related to potential sites for a new FBI complex. Trump officials also failed to consult with the state when it chose to move the agency to the Reagan building, the lawsuit claimed.
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For decades, the decrepit Hoover building has been crumbling and studies found it insufficiently secure.
During a lengthy and competitive bid process, Maryland leaders argued they could host a safer headquarters for the nation’s leading law enforcement agency — and that acquiring the contract would be an economic boon to Prince George’s County.
But in early 2025, just months into President Trump’s second term in the White House, he announced he would be keeping the FBI in D.C.
At the time, the GSA characterized the move as an efficient way to avoid $300 million in delayed maintenance costs to the Hoover building and “billions” in constructing a new campus in Greenbelt.
But Chuang, in his Monday order, ruled those arguments were insufficient and the move a violation of federal law. The judge ordered state and Trump administration officials to file a joint status report in the next two weeks, outlining proposed next steps in the litigation.
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Perry Stein contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
