Supreme Court allows Trump White House ballroom construction

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Donald Trump to continue construction indefinitely on a new White House ballroom, lifting lower court orders that would have paused the aboveground portion of the project while a legal fight proceeds.

In a 5-4 emergency ruling, the justices sided with the Trump administration and said the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued to stop the project, likely lacks legal standing to bring its case in federal court. The unsigned opinion did not decide whether Trump has legal authority to build the ballroom without congressional approval.

“Today, we do not pass upon the legality of the government’s East Wing project. We conclude only that, based on the submissions before us, the government is likely to prevail in showing that the Trust lacks… standing to challenge the project in federal court,” the court said.

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in dissent. Roberts had previously issued an interim order on Aug. 21 allowing work to continue while the court considered the administration’s emergency request.

“Construction of the ballroom has proceeded apace for the better part of a year. That construction is likely unlawful,” Roberts wrote.

The project is a 90,000-square-foot ballroom where the East Wing once stood, according to CBS News. The broader plan also includes a large underground component with secure locations and medical facilities, which the administration has argued are needed for security.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation argued that the president does not have unilateral authority to move ahead with construction. The group said the project violates a federal law requiring the “express authority of Congress” to build on federal land in Washington, D.C. The Trump administration countered that other federal provisions allow the president to make improvements on the White House grounds.

A federal judge had previously ruled that underground construction could continue but that the ballroom itself could not be built while litigation was pending. On Aug. 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld that decision.

The trust’s claim to standing relied on a declaration from member Alison Hoagland, a preservationist who lives in Washington and sits on the organization’s board of trustees. Hoagland said she regularly walks by the White House and would “suffer both professional and personal injuries, including to my aesthetic, cultural and historical interests, if a ballroom of the proposed form and scale were constructed.”

The Supreme Court majority said it had not previously recognized standing in such circumstances. “To the contrary, we have repeatedly held that mere offense, disagreement, or distaste does not qualify as a concrete and particularized injury,” the court said.

Roberts disagreed, writing that Hoagland, as a historic preservationist, could be “aesthetically injured in a concrete, particularized way by the transformation of a historic building that she frequently enjoys.”

The administration has said in court filings that construction was 65% complete as of Aug. 24, with a 250-person crew working 20 hours a day, seven days a week. The White House has said the $400 million project will be funded entirely by private donations, a claim NBC News reported has been widely disputed. Secret Service funds have already been directed to cover some security enhancements for the project.