Judge Lets White House Ballroom Work Proceed

A judge says construction of the White House ballroom can continue, for now. US District Judge Richard Leon on Tuesday rejected an emergency bid from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to temporarily halt President Trump's $300 million project, Politico reports. Leon ruled that letting construction continue below ground over the next several weeks was unlikely to cause "irreparable" injury, though he left the door open to a longer pause later and set arguments on a preliminary injunction for early next year. He told the administration not to make decisions on the underground work, like routing plumbing lines, that would dictate the eventual size of the project, reports the AP.

Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, coupled the win for the administration with a warning: The White House must submit the project to the National Capital Planning Commission by the end of December, as officials have promised. "The court will hold them to that," he said. His decision followed a classified filing from the government outlining national security issues tied to stopping work in an area long associated with the Presidential Emergency Operations Center beneath the now-demolished East Wing.

Trump has argued that because the work is on White House grounds, he alone can green-light it, though the administration has also said it will seek review from the usual Washington oversight boards. Preservationists say the process is already off the rails. National Trust attorney Tad Heuer called an August National Park Service environmental assessment "woefully inadequate" and pointed out that the East Wing Colonnade was torn down in October, despite planning documents saying it would be renovated.

"There are pile-drivers running around the clock," he told the court Tuesday, arguing that federal law requires public input and that at least four statutes have been violated. Leon signaled skepticism that those laws apply fully to what is happening now, saying they are mainly aimed at above-ground design and appearance, Politico reports. In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department had "defeated an attempt to stop President Trump's totally lawful East Wing Modernization and State Ballroom Project." She said the trust's lawsuit was one of many "bad-faith left-wing legal attacks" Trump has faced.