Judge denies request to temporarily block construction of White House ballroom

Washington — U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon denied a motion by the National Trust for Historic Preservation that would have temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s construction of a new ballroom at the White House, but he set out some requirements for the Trump administration moving forward. 

Leon said in a hearing Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that the nonprofit group had not established enough irreparable harm in order to pause the construction outright, but the judge declared construction crews cannot over the next two weeks build any below-ground structures that would determine how and where the final ballroom structure will exist. Leon said any breaking of that order would result in the White House being “forced to take it down.” 

The judge is requiring the government to submit construction plans to the National Capital Planning Commission by the end of the year, and the Justice Department said that the government has made “initial outreach” to set up meetings on that front.

Last week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed the first major lawsuit against President Trump and his administration in an effort to block construction of the ballroom, claiming no president is allowed to tear down parts of the White House “without any review whatsoever,” or construct a ballroom on public property “without giving the public an opportunity to weigh in.”

The National Park Service expects the project to be completed in summer 2028, not long before Mr. Trump leaves office.  

The historic preservation group argues that the lawsuit isn’t about the need for a ballroom, but about the need to follow the law, repeatedly arguing in court Tuesday that five laws have been broken by the demolition and build project. Plaintiffs also argued the environmental impact statement submitted by the administration was “woefully inadequate.” Much of the East Wing has been demolished as a part of the project. 

“These are things that they can do…as long as they follow the rules,” an attorney for the group argued Tuesday. 

The government contends that it has no obligation to file plans with the National Capital Planning Commission, an independent government agency, for demolition or below ground work, and insists it has not violated any laws because no plan for the ballroom has been finalized. 

“There is nothing final about this building,” Justice Department attorney Adam Gustafson argued in court. 

The government also argued that the construction and planning are all coming from the Executive Office of the President, and because it’s executive action, federal courts have limited power to review it. The National Park Service, however, was named repeatedly in court filings by the Justice Department and wrote a memo in support of the project.

The government said it is “committed” to hear input from the Commission of Fine Arts, which presently does not have a quorum because Trump removed most members, and said the lawsuit was filed too late, because demolition was completed a week before the complaint was filed. 

There will be a preliminary injunction hearing the second week of January for further arguments. 

Mr. Trump celebrated the court ruling later Tuesday, saying “we just won the case” and “we didn’t want to be held up.” He also said the donor-funded ballroom could cost as much as $400 million, up from his previous $300 million estimate, though he added that he expects to get the project done for less.

“Who else but in our country would sue to stop a $400 million beautiful ballroom that people have been after for the White House?” the president said at a Hanukkah event.