Judge Chhabria Blocks USDA's Reorganization — Including the Forest Service HQ Move to Utah — and Warns the Block May Be Short-Lived

Judge Chhabria Blocks USDA's Reorganization — Including the Forest Service HQ Move to Utah — and Warns the Block May Be Short-Lived

UPDATE (Oct. 13–16, 2026): The scope of Judge Chhabria's block is now clearer — it reaches the Forest Service headquarters relocation to Salt Lake City — and the judge himself flagged its expiry date. The stay U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria (N.D. Cal.) signed Tuesday, Oct. 13, blocks the Trump administration from moving the U.S. Forest Service's headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City while the broader challenge to USDA's reorganization plays out — the same ruling this note first covered, which blocked the agency's sweeping restructuring (office closures and relocation of employees, ~2,600 per plaintiffs; USDA says ~250).

The reasoning, quoted in the order:

The USDA — which oversees the Forest Service — "has almost certainly been violating those restrictions" Congress placed on the department's "ability to reorganize without congressional buy-in," adding that "preliminary relief is necessary to protect the congressional prerogative, prevent irreparable harm to federal employees, and vindicate the public interest."

"Congress did not contemplate USDA using its appropriated funds to shut down offices or relocate employees.¹² To the contrary, Congress was actively working to restrict the agency's ability to do so."

The judge found that any reorganization affecting more than 10 staff falls within the definition of "reprogramming" requiring congressional approval — Congress not only rejected the administration's budget proposal reflecting the downsized USDA but "expressly prohibited the reorganization of the agency without further congressional approval."

The caveat that changes the picture: Chhabria wrote that the "temporal scope of this relief could end up being quite short" — the relevant appropriations statutes expire in less than two months. That is the Dec. 11 funding cliff already on this topic's watch list: if Congress extends or drops the restrictions in the next funding bill, USDA can proceed. "But until then," the order says, "USDA is preliminarily enjoined from spending appropriated funds on the challenged office closures and employee relocations."

Utah's Republican leaders — Gov. Cox, Speaker Schultz, Senate President Adams — called the decision a "setback for common sense and responsible management of our public lands" and said they hoped it would be "quickly reversed."

What it means: the reorganization block now has a clock on it, set by the same December funding deadline as the next shutdown fight. Whether the restrictions survive the Dec. 11 bill is now the decisive question — a congressional rider fight, not a courtroom one.