Trump White House ballroom construction may continue as lawsuit proceeds

The Supreme Court allowed the Trump White House ballroom project to proceed while litigation continues, blocking a lower-court order that would have stopped most above-ground construction. The 5-4 order preserves work on the planned 90,000-square-foot addition and associated underground complex, a project reported to cost $400 million.

The court’s unsigned Aug. 31 order found that the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which brought the challenge, is likely to lack legal standing to seek an injunction against the project, Reuters and CNBC reported. Chief Justice John Roberts dissented with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Did the Supreme Court rule that the White House ballroom is legal?

No. The order concerns whether construction may continue during the case and whether the National Trust can bring this challenge. It did not decide whether the administration had legal authority to demolish the East Wing and build the ballroom without specific congressional approval, according to NPR.

Standing is a threshold legal requirement: a plaintiff generally must show a concrete injury to have a case heard in court. The majority’s view that the preservation group is likely to fail that test enabled the administration to obtain temporary relief from the construction restrictions while the lawsuit remains pending.

The litigation follows the demolition of the White House East Wing, where the administration began building the ballroom. The National Trust sued after the demolition, arguing that the administration lacked unilateral authority for the work and required express approval from Congress, Reuters reported.

The Trump administration has maintained that the project is an integrated security facility, including a secure ballroom and underground components, and that it is necessary for national security. Those assertions are the administration’s position in court and have not been resolved by the Supreme Court’s latest order.

How the Supreme Court’s two August orders differ

The Aug. 31 action followed a narrower, temporary order issued by Roberts on Aug. 21. That administrative stay kept restrictions imposed by a lower court on hold while the full court considered the government’s request, SCOTUSblog reported. It was not a determination on the administration’s application.

Before the Supreme Court intervened, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had upheld District Judge Richard Leon’s order to halt most above-ground construction. Leon’s order would still have allowed below-ground work and activity strictly needed for White House safety and security, according to Reuters.

The appeals court said congressional approval was required for the project, while rejecting the administration’s view that national-security considerations automatically displaced legal limits. The Supreme Court has now blocked that lower-court restriction for the duration of the current litigation, but the underlying dispute over authority remains unresolved.

The Justice Department told the court in an Aug. 14 filing that the wider East Wing project was 65% complete. The court’s order allows construction to continue; it does not amount to a final merits judgment on the proposed ballroom.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.