Trump brings ballroom dispute to the Supreme Court

 Updated on Aug. 14 at 2:01 p.m.

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Friday, asking the justices to allow construction of the new White House ballroom to continue while a challenge to the project continues in the lower courts. The request came one week after a federal appeals court in Washington upheld a ruling by a federal district court that temporarily blocked construction, while at the same time giving the federal government 14 days to go to the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration urged the justices to put the order by Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on hold, calling it “extraordinary and unlawful.” It “will halt 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,” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.

Sauer sought to pause Leon’s order to give the government time to file a petition for review at the Supreme Court. He also asked the justices to immediately issue an administrative stay, which would temporarily block the order while the court considers the government’s request.

The dispute began in October 2025, when the Trump administration tore down the East Wing of the White House, which had housed (among other things) the offices of the First Lady and her staff, to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom – just slightly smaller than one-and-a-half football fields.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private nonprofit that describes itself as having “led the movement to save America’s historic places” “[f]or more than 75 years,” filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C.

Leon’s order temporarily blocked the construction of the ballroom above ground but allowed construction – of, for example, bomb shelters and bunkers – to continue underground, along with any above-ground construction necessary for safety and security. Leon’s ruling never went into effect, however, because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an administrative stay while the Trump administration’s appeal was pending.

On Friday, Aug. 7, a divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit upheld Leon’s ruling.

Judges Patricia Millett and Bradley Garcia concluded that Congress, rather than the president, “has exclusive authority to regulate the construction and demolition of White House structures,” and it has not authorized any money for the ballroom construction. They agreed with the trust that if the construction is not put on hold and the ballroom is built, it will inflict permanent harm (another criterion in considering whether to grant temporary relief) on the trust’s members because of the “irreversible historical-preservation, architectural, and visual damage” that the new structure will cause.

Judge Neomi Rao dissented. She contended (among other things) that the National Trust for Historic Preservation did not have a legal right to sue, known as standing, to stop the ballroom construction. Moreover, she added, the president has the power to make improvements to his residence, which likely includes the ballroom.

Millett and Garcia put their order on hold for 14 days to give the Trump administration time to go to the Supreme Court. On Friday, Sauer did exactly that. He first contended that the trust does not have a legal right to sue, known as standing, because its claims rest on a member’s “dislike” for the new construction. Such a “subjective preference” does not create the kind of injury that would allow the lawsuit to go forward, he contended. To the contrary, Sauer suggested, “[m]any strongly disagree with her, as one” White House official indicates in a declaration attached to the Trump administration’s application: Joshua Fisher, the director for White House Management and Administration, wrote that “[t]his building is already being adjudged to be one of the most beautiful of its kind, anywhere in the country.”

Sauer pushed back against the conclusion by the D.C Circuit majority that Trump lacked the power to bulldoze the East Wing and initiate the new construction. “Congress,” he wrote, “has authorized the Project twice over” – by authorizing Trump and other presidents “to make ‘alteration[s]’ and ‘improvement[s]’ to the White House” and because it “broadly authorized the Executive to construct buildings in national parks.”

Sauer also noted that because Leon’s order has never gone into effect, “construction has since proceeded …, with a 250-person crew working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep the Project ahead of schedule and under budget. Today, the Project is 65% complete in its entirety, and moving quickly toward total completion.”

Indeed, Fisher added in his declaration, “[q]uite frankly, if the building were tragically ordered to be taken down, or even altered, by the court, there would be no way to do so.” According to Fisher, among other things, the concrete that has been used in the project is “the type used in nuclear power plants” and is “virtually impossible to deconstruct.”

The court instructed the National Trust for Historic Preservation to file a response to the government’s request by 12 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/08/trump-brings-ballroom-dispute-to-the-supreme-court/