A U.S. judge on Monday blocked plans to relocate the FBI headquarters to a federal office building in Washington. 

U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang, an appointee of President Barack Obama, ruled that the Trump administration illegally tossed a plan that had been previously approved to build a new facility in Maryland, the Associated Press reported. 

The battle over a new location to house the FBI headquarters has been going on for years. The Biden administration picked a site in Greebelt, Maryland, but Trump appointees tried to reverse that decision last year in favor of repurposing the Ronald Reagan Building, which is a few blocks from the current location of the FBI headquarters.

Responding to Chuang's ruling, the FBI said in a statement that the court chose to intervene in the matter for political reasons. 

"This is not the first time courts have tried to undermine the administration in its goal to make government more cost-effective for American taxpayers," the FBI said in a statement.