A federal judge has temporarily halted President Trump's ambitious plan to demolish the White House East Wing and replace it with a sprawling ballroom, dealing a significant setback to a project the administration has been pushing through with unusual speed.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued the preliminary injunction Tuesday after the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to block construction. In his 35-page ruling, Leon adopted the trust's core argument: Trump is a "steward" of the White House, not its owner, and major alterations require congressional approval.
"The project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion," Leon wrote.
The Trump administration filed an appeal within hours of the decision.
Why This Matters
The dispute cuts to a fundamental question about presidential power and the White House's status as a national historic property. The East Wing has stood for over 120 years. The proposed $400 million expansion would erase a significant portion of that history in what critics see as Trump reshaping the nation's most iconic building according to his personal aesthetic preferences.
The project has triggered fierce backlash in Washington. When the National Capital Planning Commission released more than 9,000 pages of public comments in March, they overwhelmingly opposed the ballroom. One commenter pleaded: "NO GAUDY FAKE GOLD STUFF ALL OVER THE PLACE." Republican Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio called images of the bulldozed grounds "deeply disturbing."
Trump responded to the court decision by attacking the National Trust, calling it "a Radical Left Group of Lunatics."
The administration has argued that halting construction poses a national security risk, a claim that has not swayed the court so far.
The National Trust filed its lawsuit in December, contending that the demolition violated the Constitution and that proper review procedures, including public comment periods, had been bypassed. Leon initially hesitated to rule in February, but the Trust amended its legal arguments and requested the injunction again this month.
What made the project move so quickly through the approval process was the composition of the review bodies. The Commission on Fine Arts, which gave the ballroom design its blessing in February, consists largely of Trump loyalists. The National Capital Planning Commission, set to vote in April, is similarly stacked with friendly appointees.
The White House maintains it can complete the ballroom project well before Trump's term ends, suggesting the administration intends to pursue alternative legal strategies or legislative routes to overcome the injunction.
For now, Leon's order stops the work. But the legal fight over the future of the White House's East Wing is far from over.
Comments