Trump Asks Supreme Court to Revive Ballroom
Trump Asks Supreme Court to Revive Ballroom
The News
President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to let construction continue on a $400 million ballroom he is building next to the White House.
A federal appeals court ordered above-ground work stopped on Aug. 7, ruling he needs congressional approval to build it.
The project would cover roughly 89,000 square feet — larger than the White House itself.
Timeline
A 2-1 panel of the D.C. Circuit rules Trump lacked the authority to proceed with the ballroom without Congress, and orders above-ground construction halted.
Both lower courts leave in place permission to continue underground bunker and security construction at the site.
Trump files an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to pause the injunction and let the above-ground work restart.
The deadline for the Supreme Court to act.
Reactions
The administration's position is that existing law already gives the president authority to carry out major construction at the White House, and that the courts are substituting their own judgment for the executive's on a matter that includes security.
Challengers, led by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, argue a president cannot unilaterally demolish and rebuild part of the White House complex without sign-off from Congress.
A central procedural fight in the case is whether the National Trust has legal standing to sue over aesthetic harm to the building.
What's Next
The Supreme Court will decide whether to pause the injunction before Aug. 21.
Whatever the justices do on the emergency application, the underlying lawsuit over the ballroom's legality continues in the lower courts.
Unresolved either way: what happens to the above-ground work already completed if the halt is ultimately made permanent.
More
The case tests a question with reach far beyond one ballroom — whether a president can order major construction on the White House grounds on his own authority, or whether Congress holds the keys.
Reporting: Reuters, NBC News, CNN, USA Today.
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