Trump Administration Eyes Courthouses for Potential Sale

Federal courthouses in Los Angeles and Memphis are among the federal buildings that the Trump administration has identified for “disposal.”

The General Services Administration’s list, released Tuesday, identified more than 400 federal buildings for potential sale, as part of the administration’s sweeping federal cost-cutting effort.

The agency said in a news release that “critical government operations,” such as courthouses, will be retained. However, several federal courthouses and other judiciary offices, including some for federal defenders, made the disposal list.

The list is the latest intrusion by Trump officials on the judiciary, after GSA earlier asked courts to justify their leases. The federal courts, which operate independently from Congress and the executive branch, have been targeted by top Trump allies as many of the president’s early actions were temporarily halted by judges.

About 20 federal district courthouses are on the list, according to a Bloomberg Law review. More buildings house other entities that are within the judiciary, like probation and pretrial services. Properties that include federal public defender offices for the Northern and Western Districts of Texas are also named.

The main Los Angeles courthouse, where most of the district’s judges sit, isn’t on the list.

Two of the courthouses are in the Middle District of Alabama. The court’s website says those locations, in Opelika and Dothan, typically aren’t staffed.

A spokesperson for the judiciary declined to comment.

Bloomberg Law couldn’t immediately verify all of the over 400 properties on the list.

The list also includes some courthouses that are no longer used by judges, including a property in Miami.

A handful of buildings that contain bankruptcy courts were also identified by GSA.

Several buildings containing immigration courts, including in Manhattan and El Paso, were on the GSA’s list. Immigration courts are housed within the Justice Department, whose Washington headquarters is on the chopping block.

The Trump administration is also eyeing terminating leases on buildings used by federal employees.

GSA previously asked the Administrative Office for the US Courts to justify leases for locations it occupies, according to a Feb. 13 memo by a judiciary official memo sent to members of the judiciary, obtained by Bloomberg Law.

The official said in the memo that the office is currently working to respond to the inquiry and justify each location to ensure operations there “can continue undisturbed.”

The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, which is leading the cost-cutting initiative, has also posted a purported list of terminated leases, which included multiple US attorney’s offices. At least one US attorney’s office included on the list was informed that the lease terminations were rescinded, according to an officewide email viewed by Bloomberg Law.