A federal judge on Tuesday halted the Agriculture Department’s plans to close offices and relocate employees across eight agencies, ruling that the department is likely violating spending restrictions Congress wrote into its appropriations laws.
In an order, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California stopped the USDA from closing offices or moving employees outside their local commuting area at the Forest Service, the Agricultural Research Service, the Food and Nutrition Administration and five other components while the litigation continues.
The order covers plans to move the Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City and close all nine regional offices, and to shutter all seven Food and Nutrition Administration regional offices, which could mean relocations for up to 870 of roughly 1,200 employees.
The restrictions at issue expire Dec. 11, so Congress could revisit them in its next funding bill, Chhabria wrote.
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“If the agency wishes to move forward with its plans to close offices and relocate employees, it will soon have the opportunity to convince Congress of the merits of those plans,” Chhabria wrote. “Congress, if it agrees, can choose not to extend the restrictions at issue in this case.”
Chhabria found the USDA is “almost certainly” using funds in ways Congress didn’t contemplate when it appropriated them. He wrote that that counts as “reprogramming” under the law, and that Congress barred reprogramming for reorganizations without committee approval.
The judge said he had “no view” on whether the reorganization is a good idea, but he faulted the USDA for not analyzing the risks the reorganization could pose to the services the agency provides.
The lawsuit was brought by four federal-employee unions who represent eight USDA components named in the case. The suit grew out of a broader union challenge to President Donald Trump’s 2025 push to shrink the federal workforce, which is still pending before a different judge in the same court.
Elena Goldstein, a legal director at Democracy Forward, said the court’s “stay of USDA’s forced relocation plans will allow the vital work of the department and its employees to continue, protecting the families and communities across the nation that rely on its vital work.”
The USDA announced its reorganization in summer 2025, listing relocating employees outside the Washington area as one of four pillars. The unions argue the plan would force thousands of employees to choose between moving, often to another state, or losing their jobs.
Numerous employees told The Washington Sun in July that they would rather quit than move, which could create major disruptions for the agencies, citing the hundreds of employees who were lost after the USDA moved the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City, Missouri, in 2019.
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