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Judge declines to halt White House ballroom construction

A federal judge on Thursday declined to halt President Trump’s White House ballroom construction project at the request of preservationists who sued. 

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sought to block the $400 million project, did not properly challenge the renovations, but could amend its complaint, and the judge would reconsider.  

“Until then, however, I have no choice but to deny Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction for lack of likelihood of success on the merits,” the judge wrote.  

The preservationists sought to stop construction of the new ballroom until the White House abides by federal law and other rules, such as obtaining congressional approval and going through multiple independent reviews and a public comment period.  

Trump’s October decision to demolish the East Wing cleared way for the site of the new ballroom, a 90,000-square-foot project to create a venue where state dinners, galas and other events are set to eventually be held. The project is being funded mostly by private donors and is slated for completion by 2028. 

The White House also fired the members of the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency that advises on architectural developments in Washington, D.C. Six of the seven members on the remade panel gave final approval to the project during a meeting last week. 

The demolition sparked swift backlash from Democratic lawmakers, historians and preservationists, who criticized the White House for bypassing the traditional process.  

Both the preservationists and the government initially focused on Trump’s authority to raze the old East Wing of the White House and construct a new one. But in doing so, the preservationists failed to bring the proper claim to test the statutory authority Trump claims undergirds his authority to proceed without Congress’s blessing, Leon said.  

“To be fair, the President’s source of legal authority to construct the ballroom was not apparent before the National Trust brought its motion,” the judge wrote. “And to make things murkier, Defendants initially suggested that there was a dispute about the President’s constitutional authority.  

“But Defendants’ subsequent abandonment of any constitutional claims of authority places this case — as it now stands — squarely in” the territory of Supreme Court precedent regarding when courts can second-guess the president, he added. 

The judge said he would “expeditiously” consider the matter if properly brought in an amended complaint by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

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