A federal appeals court in Washington has lifted a construction freeze on President Trump's White House ballroom project, allowing work to resume on the 90,000-square-foot facility and its accompanying underground bunker while the legal battle over the plan plays out in court.
The three-judge panel issued its order Friday, just 24 hours after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon blocked aboveground construction on the $400 million East Wing replacement. Oral arguments on whether the ballroom construction is legally permissible are scheduled for June 5.
Leon had ruled that the Trump administration's argument for the exception did not hold water. The president had claimed the entire project, including the visible ballroom, fell under national security measures that were exempt from his earlier requirement that Congress approve the plan. Leon rejected that reading, writing that national security "is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity."
Trump responded with a string of posts on Truth Social, calling Leon a "Trump Hating Judge" who "should be ashamed of himself." The president doubled down on his security rationale, writing that without the ballroom, "no future President, living in the White House without this Ballroom, can ever be Safe and Secure at Events, Future Inaugurations, or Global Summits."
The ballroom saga is one piece of Trump's broader architectural agenda for Washington. The same day Leon issued his restraining order, a federal arts panel appointed by Trump gave preliminary approval to a 250-foot triumphal arch planned to commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary. That greenlight moves the monument closer to construction.
The appeals court's temporary reprieve gives both sides time to present their cases before June. Construction crews can keep moving forward on the bunker and ballroom in the meantime, setting the stage for a potentially significant court decision on whether presidential building projects can invoke national security to bypass congressional review.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Judge Leon drew a clear line that national security isn't a presidential trump card for avoiding oversight, but Trump's appeals court win shows this fight is far from settled."
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