Supreme Court temporarily allows work on White House ballroom to continue

Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily allowed construction of the White House ballroom to continue, freezing for now a lower court decision that would have halted work on the project.

Chief Justice John Roberts issued a stay that will remain in place until the Supreme Court takes further action. His order is temporary and gives the high court additional time to consider the Justice Department's request to pause a district court's injunction, which was set to take effect at midnight unless the Supreme Court acted.

The Trump administration asked the high court last week to intervene and allow construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom to continue.

Roberts' stay came after a divided federal appeals court concluded earlier this month that Congress, not President Trump or the White House, has "full constitutional control over federal property and the funding of its maintenance and development," and noted an "absence of any express or implied authorization" that grants Mr. Trump the ability to construct the $400 million ballroom.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the injunction issued by the district court earlier this year that would've stopped construction on the White House ballroom. But the D.C. Circuit halted its ruling for 14 days, through Friday, to give the Justice Department time to seek relief from the Supreme Court.

In a filing with the court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer had asked the justices to pause the lower court ruling that blocked above-ground construction while the legal battle over the project plays out. The overhaul also includes an underground bunker, medical facilities and other features, and judges have allowed that work to continue.

"This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security," Sauer wrote.

Mr. Trump has reiterated that concern, arguing that construction must continue because it is "vital" to his safety and the safety of future presidents, and American national security, especially in light of recent foiled assassination plots against him. In a Truth Social post earlier this month, Mr. Trump called the National Trust for Historic Preservation "TREASONISTS" and alleged without evidence that they "revealed Top Military Secrets!"

But Mr. Trump has often conflated the ongoing construction of a new presidential security bunker that is being built underneath the proposed ballroom, and the construction of the ballroom itself. As the legal challenge has played out in lower courts, all below-ground construction on national security facilities has continued, and only above-ground work on the physical construction of the ballroom is at issue.

"The lower section does not work without the upper section and, likewise, the upper section does not work without the lower. It is all one highly integrated unit," Mr. Trump wrote in the same Truth Social post criticizing the Trust.