Washington: Two judges have ordered Donald Trump to cease construction of his beloved White House ballroom in a blistering rebuke of the president’s actions that sets up a showdown in the Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeals in Washington ruled on Friday (US time) that Trump must obtain approval from the US Congress for his ballroom plans, though it agreed that construction of underground bunkers and military facilities could continue.
The two majority judges sided with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a conservation group which brought the lawsuit, and were blunt in their assessment.
“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 authorised to be built and American taxpayers paid for. Until now,” they wrote.
“At this preliminary stage, the National Trust has shown, compellingly, that Congress has not ceded unfettered authority to the Executive Branch to dramatically redesign, reshape, and reconstruct the White House – the People’s House – to fit a particular President’s desires.”
A Trump-appointed judge, Neomi Rao, dissented from the majority ruling and said that the Trust had no standing to bring the legal challenge in the first place.
She said the ballroom likely sat within the president’s authority to make improvements to the executive residence at the White House, and aesthetic objections to it were of low importance.
The lower court had “elevated the aesthetic displeasure of a single passerby over the government’s security interests in the ballroom and the security risks of leaving an open construction site at the President’s home and office”, Rao wrote.
The Trust’s case was brought on behalf of Alison Hoagland, an architectural historian and local Washington resident who alleged that the ballroom would disturb her walks through the city.
Rao said Hoagland did not have legal standing to sue – that she is not affected by the ballroom – a position Trump has himself taken.
The president said on Friday (Saturday AEST) that he would immediately appeal the “horrendous, politically motivated and unlawful ruling” to the Supreme Court.
In a 500-word post on Truth Social, Trump entwined the underground military components of the project – which the court said could continue – with the above-ground ballroom.
“Two Obama and Biden Appellate Court Judges just voted against the desperately needed Military Centre, required for the National Security of Washington DC and our Country itself,” he said.
“The Circuit Court’s decision … severely jeopardises the lives and welfare of the people who work, and will be working, at the White House – including all future Presidents of the United States and their families.”
Trump is likely to regard the Supreme Court appeal as a test of several justices’ loyalty. He has lashed out at the court – which has a 6-3 conservative majority – since it struck down his so-called reciprocal tariffs and an executive order on birthright citizenship.
Amy Coney Barrett, whom Trump appointed to the court after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in his first term, found against him on both matters.
The ballroom is one of the president’s top priorities. Earlier this week, he posted a photograph of the construction site, adding that the project was on-budget and ahead of schedule.
In their majority ruling, the Obama- and Biden-appointed judges Patricia Millett and Brad Garcia noted that Trump had bulldozed the former East Wing over just three days last October, “without undertaking promised consultations or obtaining Congress’s permission”.
Brent Leggs, president and chief executive of the National Trust, said it was “a great day for our country and for the American people’s right to voice their opinions about the historic places they cherish, including the White House”.
Trump is also building a new helipad on the South Lawn of the White House, just outside the main residence. And he is advancing plans for a “Triumphal Arch” to be built near Arlington Cemetery.
The ballroom itself is only expected to be completed near the end of Trump’s term, in 2028. He has argued it is a necessary addition for future presidents to hold large functions such as state dinners that have, in the past, been held in makeshift tents on the White House lawn.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
