Maryland and Prince George’s County secured a win in court Monday in their fight to keep the FBI’s future home in Greenbelt.
A federal judge ruled President Donald Trump’s administration cannot scrap those plans in favor of its preference to move the bureau’s headquarters across the street to the Ronald Reagan Building in D.C.
The administration announced that plan in July to immediate backlash from Maryland officials and lawmakers, who said it ignored the site selection process of Congress and the General Services Administration. After the GSA selected Greenbelt over Landover and Springfield, Virginia, in November 2023, Congress appropriated $1 billion for the project, according to Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown.
Brown, who sued the Trump administration in November, also accused the federal government of trying to illegally reprogram and transfer that money toward an entirely different project.
“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,” Brown said. “Congress made a promise. The Trump Administration tried to break it. Now, the jobs, investment, and opportunity Marylanders deserve are within reach.”
U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang ruled the plan to move to the Reagan Building, and the redirection of funds to do it, violates the Administrative Procedure Act and that Maryland and Prince George’s County suffered “irreparable injury” as a result of the decision to ditch the Greenbelt site.
“There is a rule of law, and everyone has to abide by that rule of law and it applies to everyone at every stage and in every corner of our country, including the White House,” Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy told WTOP.
The ruling blocks the relocation of the FBI headquarters to the Reagan Building and the redirection of any money for that purpose.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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