A federal judge on Monday enjoined the Trump administration from abandoning a previous administration’s selection to move the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters to suburban Maryland, finding the action exceeded the authority of the agencies involved and misapplied funds that Congress had earmarked for the earlier project.
Court finds agency action unlawful
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee, concluded that the Department of Justice’s FBI and the General Services Administration went beyond their legal authority when they announced in July 2025 a plan to relocate the FBI from the J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington to the Ronald Reagan Building — a shift that scrapped a site selected in 2023 in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Chuang sided with Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland, which sued in November after the agencies began redirecting money toward the Reagan Building proposal. The judge ruled that the reprogramming of federal funds, including amounts previously appropriated by Congress for the Greenbelt site, amounted to action that was “arbitrary and capricious” and not in accordance with law.
“[I]f the Reagan Building project moves forward, Plaintiffs will lose the opportunity to have the substantial economic benefits that would have a positive impact not just on individual private parties, but on the community in Prince George’s County,” Chuang wrote.
Money at the center of the dispute
At issue in the case was the agencies’ decision to redirect a total of $555 million toward the Reagan Building move. That sum included $323 million that had been appropriated by Congress specifically for the Greenbelt project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total reprogrammed funds | $555 million |
| Funds appropriated for Greenbelt | $323 million |
Chuang’s opinion also evaluated the economic stakes for Prince George’s County, noting that a move to the Reagan Building would deprive the county of significant anticipated local benefits. The court observed that the administration was still in the early stages of relocating the FBI to the Reagan Building, and therefore an injunction would have a limited immediate impact on the defendants.
Long-running dispute over FBI relocation
The question of where to site the FBI headquarters has been contentious for years. Chuang highlighted that the selection of Greenbelt in 2023 represented nearly 15 years of work and planning. The Hoover Building itself has been widely acknowledged to need extensive repairs, prompting repeated discussions about relocation.
The Reagan Building, which once housed the U.S. Agency for International Development, currently accommodates several federal tenants, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The July 2025 announcement that the FBI and GSA would shift course to pursue the Reagan Building triggered the lawsuit by Maryland and Prince George’s County.
State and local officials argued that the decision improperly diverted funds and undercut the county’s expected economic gains. Maryland’s Democratic governor hailed the ruling as a victory. The agencies have not yet publicly commented on the decision; CNN reported that it had sought comment from the FBI, the Justice Department and the General Services Administration.
- Legal limit: Court found agency action exceeded legal authority.
- Fiscal issue: $555 million reprogrammed; $323 million originally appropriated for Greenbelt.
- Local impact: Prince George’s County stands to lose expected economic benefits.
The ruling underscores judicial willingness to constrain executive agencies when they reroute congressionally provided funds and reverse multi-year federal site-selection processes. It will likely prompt close scrutiny of how federal agencies handle future reprogramming of appropriated dollars and of the administration’s wider plans for federal facility locations.
