{"id":553,"date":"2026-08-21T19:08:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=553"},"modified":"2026-08-21T19:08:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:08:21","slug":"supreme-court-allows-white-house-ballroom-construction-to-continue-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=553","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court allows White House ballroom construction to continue for now"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon allowed construction on a new 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom to continue \u2013 at least for now. Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had issued an order, slated to go into effect at the end of the day, that would have stopped above-ground work on the project. But Chief Justice John Roberts issued , known as an administrative stay, that kept Leon\u2019s order on hold to give the justices more time to consider the Trump administration\u2019s request to pause it.<\/p>\n

Read more Realizing Scalia\u2019s vision: state originalism centers as legal civics education<\/a><\/p>\n

The brief, one-sentence stay did not indicate when the justices might act on the government\u2019s request. Leon\u2019s order has never gone into effect, permitting the Trump administration to move forward with construction while the case made its way toward the Supreme Court. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer \u00a0the Supreme Court last week that there was \u201ca 250-person crew working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep the Project ahead of schedule and under budget\u201d; as a result, he wrote, as of last week, the project was \u201c65% complete in its entirety, and moving quickly toward total completion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dispute dates back to last fall, when the Trump administration tore down the East Wing of the White House to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom \u2013 just slightly smaller than one-and-a-half football fields. The National Trust for Historic Preservation\u00a0went to federal court\u00a0in Washington, D.C., in December, seeking to pause construction while the project obtained the necessary approvals and authorization from Congress.<\/p>\n

Leon issued an that temporarily prohibited the Trump administration from carrying out most construction above ground but allowed underground construction of security features such as bomb shelters and bunkers to go forward. That order remained on hold while the government\u2019s appeal made its way to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which on Aug. 7 affirmed his ruling but gave the federal government 14 days to seek relief from the Supreme Court, keeping the order on hold and allowing construction to continue.<\/p>\n

Read more Six justices, five techniques: writing lessons from the 2025-26 term<\/a><\/p>\n

The Trump administration on Aug. 14, asking the justices to intervene. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices that Leon\u2019s ruling would \u201chalt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security.\u201d The Trump administration contended that the trust does not have a legal right to sue, known as standing. It also pushed back against the conclusion by the D.C. Circuit majority that Congress must authorize the ballroom project, telling the justices that Congress has<\/em> authorized the project, both by giving Trump and other presidents the power \u201cto make \u2018alteration[s]\u2019 and \u2018improvement[s]\u2019 to the White House\u201d and because it \u201cbroadly authorized the Executive to construct buildings in national parks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a on Tuesday, the National Trust \u2013 represented by Tad Heuer of Foley Hoag \u2013 argued that the Trump administration was trying to \u201coutrun judicial review\u201d by fast-tracking construction of the whole project and then telling the court it was too late for the justices to step in, because the project is now \u201cbeyond the point of no return.\u201d But the government\u2019s \u201cefforts to foil judicial review and arrogate Congress\u2019s exclusive powers should not be rewarded with a stay that allows [it] to complete a ballroom [it] lacked any authority to commence in the first place,\u201d Heuer contended.<\/p>\n

After having not initially acted on Sauer\u2019s request, in his Aug. 14 filing, for an \u201cimmediate\u201d administrative stay, Roberts \u2013 who has primary responsibility for emergency appeals from the District of Columbia \u2013 granted one on Friday.<\/p>\n

Read more The tenth justice\u2019s strategy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon allowed construction on a new 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom to continue \u2013 at least for now. Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had issued an order, slated to go into effect at the end of the day, that would have stopped above-ground work on the project. 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