Judge to Halt Work on Trump’s Ballroom After Renewed Bid (3)

A Washington federal judge moved to halt President Donald Trump’s efforts to build a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House until he gets approval from Congress.

Senior Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia held on Tuesday that the president likely exceeded his legal authority by overseeing construction of the ballroom, which Trump has said could cost as much as $400 million in privately raised funds.

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Leon wrote.

However, the judge paused the effect of his order for 14 days, given “logistical issues” with halting construction. Leon also said Trump “may at any time go to Congress to obtain express authority to construct a ballroom and to do so with private funds.” The Justice Department filed a notice that it planned to appeal Leon’s ruling less than two hours after he issued it.

The administration’s legal argument assumes Congress “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,” but “no statute comes close” to giving the president that power, Leon said.

He also reasoned that the project is historically unprecedented, as the White House has “never engaged in a construction project of this size and scale using donated funds.”

“This clearly is 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!” Leon wrote.

Leon appeared exasperated by the government’s legal contentions in his 35-page opinion, which included more than a dozen exclamation points. In four instances, he responded to the administration’s positions defending Trump’s authorities to build the ballroom with, “Please!”

He also described the government’s claims that pausing construction would leave a hole in the ground and pose safety and security risks as “grasping for straws.”

“While I take seriously the Government’s concerns regarding the safety and security of the White House grounds and the President himself, the existence of a ‘large hole’ beside the White House is, of course, a problem of the President’s own making!” Leon wrote.

Still, the judge excluded any construction necessary to ensure the White House’s safety and security from his order.

The ruling represents a win for the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has argued the Trump administration should have gotten Congress’ approval before tearing down the White House’s East Wing and building a new structure.

Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust, said in a statement that Leon’s ruling “is a win for the American people on a project that forever impacts one of the most beloved and iconic places in our nation.”

The ballroom project is part of Trump’s broader efforts to renovate Washington’s historic landmarks. The administration has also been sued over Trump’s move to close the Kennedy Center for renovations and his stated plans to paint the granite exterior of the 19th-century Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which houses offices for White House staff.

The US Commission on Fine Arts, made up of Trump appointees, approved the ballroom’s design in February after a single hearing.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump slammed the National Trust as a “Radical Left Group of Lunatics” and said his ballroom is “under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost to the Taxpayer, and will be the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World.”

Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, had twice declined the trust’s prior requests in this case to pause the project while litigation continued, even as the judge has expressed skepticism during court hearings that the administration has authority to undertake such a major project.

The judge invited the trust in February to update its lawsuit with revised claims, after saying he had “no choice” but to deny the nonprofit’s request because it hadn’t correctly challenged the project. Leon explained that since the construction project was led by a White House office, rather than the National Park Service, the trust couldn’t challenge it under administrative law.

The trust then revived its request to block construction in March, arguing Trump acted beyond the scope of his legal powers.

Leon again seemed wary of Trump’s authority to build the ballroom without Congress during a March hearing on the renewed request. At one point, he referred to the Justice Department’s position that the project was permitted under a law authorizing maintenance and alterations a “brazen interpretation of the laws of vocabulary.”

The judge also accused the Justice Department during the hearing of switching positions during the case, after the government asserted the White House was controlling the project but cited laws creating the Park Service to justify its authority.

The case is National Trust for Historic Preservation v. NPS, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-04316.