A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump from proceeding on his proposed ballroom without “express authorization from Congress.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon prohibited “any further demolition, site preparation work, landscape alteration, excavation, foundation work, or other construction or related work, other than actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds, including the ballroom construction site, and provide for the personal safety of the President and his staff.”
The ruling will take effect in 14 days, giving Trump’s team time for an appeal.
“The president of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon wrote. “He is not, however, the owner!”
He wrote that the plaintiff in the case, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, was “likely to succeed on the merits because no statute comes close to giving the president the authority he claims to have.”
Read the judge’s decision blocking Donald Trump’s ballroom.
Trump has given the ballroom extensive focus in his second term, often referring to the plans and touting it as a necessary improvement to the White House. Earlier on Tuesday, he even shared the most recent drawings of the ballroom, estimated to cost $400 million and financed through private donations from corporations and others.
Trump moved forward on his project last year, before securing congressional or other approval, by ordering the demolition of the East Wing, alarming preservationists who decried the lack of review.
The new ballroom is set to go before the National Capital Planning Commission on Thursday, and the panel, with a majority of Trump appointees, was expected to approve it. Public comments were overwhelmingly against the plans, with many noting that the new structure’s 90,000-square-foot size would dwarf the White House executive mansion and break the symmetry of the grounds.
Leon wrote that the Trump team’s “reading of the statutes assumes that Congress has granted nearly unlimited power to the President to construct anything, anywhere on federal land in the District of Columbia, regardless of the source of funds. This is clearly not how Congress and former Presidents have managed the White House for centuries, and this Court will not be the first to hold that Congress has ceded its powers in such a significant fashion!”
Trump raged at the ruling on Truth Social, writing, “So, the White House Ballroom, and The Trump Kennedy Center, which are under budget, ahead of schedule, and will be among the most magnificent Buildings of their kind anywhere in the World, gets sued by a group that was cut off by Government years ago, but all of the many DISASTERS in our Country are left alone to die. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?” Trump took control of the Kennedy Center last year and recently announced plans to close the arts center for two years, starting in July, as it undergoes renovations. The National Trust and other groups also have filed suit to block those plans, arguing that the center failed to go through adequate review.
More to come.
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