A federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration from continuing construction on the White House ballroom, ignoring the administration’s argument that the project is crucial for national security. The court ruled that the construction project was unlawful because the administration bypassed congressional authorization.
The appellate ruling upholds the lower court’s ruling, which blocked all above-ground ballroom construction but allowed below-ground national security-related construction to continue.
In a 2-1 ruling, the court affirmed the preliminary injunction against further above-ground construction. The court wrote that “We are aware of no instance in American history in which a President unilaterally and using privately collected funds demolished substantial portions of the White House that Congress authorized to be built and American taxpayers paid for. Until now.” They concluded that “Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help.”
Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, called the district court’s preliminary injunction halting the ballroom project an “abuse of discretion” for multiple reasons, including that the case lacked standing, meaning the plaintiffs lacked a “clear showing” of why they could bring the lawsuit against the administration.
The court paused its decision for two weeks to allow the administration to decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The administration had pivoted to make national security its main argument to continue construction for the ballroom as it made the case to the three-judge panel in June. Immediately following the April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when a gunman stormed a Secret Service security checkpoint in an allegedly attempt to assassinate Donald Trump, the president declared that such an attack would never have happened in the planned ballroom.
“It’s drone-proof, it’s bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom,” Trump said. “That’s why [the] Secret Service, that’s why the military are demanding it.”
In court documents, the government argues, “such unacceptable threats to the President’s life and to the continuity of government will persist, because the President has no secure facility capable of hosting large-scale events on the White House grounds.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the nonprofit organization that brought the suit, has pushed back vigorously on that assertion, saying that a new, “massive” ballroom is not a national security necessity.
“Its absence has not prevented any past president from residing in the White House over the past two centuries, or prevented this President from residing there in the seven months since the East Wing was demolished,” it writes in court documents.
And the group maintains that regardless of any argument the administration makes, the project requires congressional authorization, which it neither sought nor obtained.
The appellate ruling comes after the district court issued a ruling allowing national security considerations. After Judge Richard Leon issued his initial preliminary injunction in March, blocking the administration from continuing construction of the ballroom, the administration began making the national security argument in earnest.
The administration filed an emergency appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing construction must continue as a matter of national security. The appellate court sent the case back to Leon to reconsider his ruling, in light of the national security argument. Leon then updated his order, which maintained his block on all above-ground ballroom construction while allowing national security work to continue below-ground. His order was informed by a private viewing of the administration’s national security plans.
This court’s ruling further bolsters that ruling, even as the fight for the ballroom is almost certainly headed to the Supreme Court.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Lisa Rubin contributed reporting.
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