A federal judge blocked FBI Director Kash Patel’s attempt to move his bureau’s headquarters down the street to the Ronald Reagan Building, saying he broke laws governing site selection.
Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee, sided with Maryland and Prince George’s County, which had been the leading location for the future HQ site until Mr. Patel decided to keep it inside the District.
Judge Chuang said the order restores the plans to build in Greenbelt, just over the Maryland-D.C. line — though he pointed out that Congress has yet to give final approval to that location.
He said Congress controls federal property and wrote laws governing the site selection process, settling on final potential locations in Maryland and Virginia.
Mr. Patel’s attempt to stay inside Washington broke those laws.
“The FBI and [General Services Administration] building selection decisions were not in accordance with law and exceeded the statutory authority,” the judge wrote.
He issued a judgment fully erasing the Reagan building decision and forbidding any more action in that direction unless Congress gives explicit approval.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown praised the decision.
“By blocking the Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to move the FBI to the Reagan Building and divert the funds Congress set aside for this project, the court has cleared the path back to Greenbelt,” he said. “This 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.”
The FBI is currently based at the J. Edgar Hoover Building at 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
The bureau long ago outgrew the space there, forcing employees to work out of a number of annexes in the region. The building also is crumbling.
Some two decades ago, officials began seeking a new site, with locations in Maryland and Virginia competing.
A site in Fairfax County had seemed to be the winner, but a political appointee within the Biden administration overruled that and selected the Greenbelt site.
The FBI itself expressed concerns about the fairness of the Greenbelt choice.
Mr. Patel and the GSA in July 2025 announced they were rewriting the decision and had selected the Reagan Building, blocks away from the current location.
They called it the most cost-effective solution.
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