Protesters gather on April 2 before the National Capital Planning Commission votes on whether to approve the plans for the Trump ballroom project [Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nInside Judge Leon\u2019s decision<\/h2>\n Judge Leon sided with the trust\u2019s call for an injunction against further construction, though the injunction he granted in March was temporary.<\/p>\n
He also included a period of time before the injunction took effect to allow the Trump administration to appeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner,\u201d Leon wrote in his decision.<\/p>\n
His ruling did acknowledge the Trump administration\u2019s argument that leaving the construction site incomplete would \u201cimperil national security\u201d. But Leon brushed aside that suggestion, saying that the defence was \u201cgrasping for straws\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I take seriously the Government\u2019s concerns regarding the safety and security of the White House grounds and the President himself, the existence of a \u2018large hole\u2019 beside the White House is, of course, a problem of the President\u2019s own making!\u201d Leon wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cBald assertions of \u2018national security\u2019 cannot excuse the Government\u2019s failure to follow the law and then insulate those failures from judicial review.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leon did, however, issue an exception to his injunction against further construction. Under his order, the Trump administration was allowed to proceed with limited construction to \u201censure the safety and security of the White House\u201d.<\/p>\n
For the rest, Leon said Trump must petition Congress for approval. \u201cUnfortunately for Defendants, unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!\u201d<\/p>\nThe demolition of the East Wing is seen from the reopened Washington Monument on November 15, 2025 [Jessica Koscielniak\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCommissions grant approval<\/h2>\n The Trump administration, however, has appealed Leon\u2019s injunction against the project and has claimed broad authority to make changes to the White House, citing past renovations under earlier presidents.<\/p>\n
Since Trump announced the ballroom last year, the project has grown from a $200m structure to a nearly $400m one, by current estimates.<\/p>\n
Trump has pledged to use private donations to fund the construction, which is set to span 90,000 square feet (about 8,360 square metres).<\/p>\n
Such a massive structure is expected to dwarf the White House\u2019s executive mansion, its main structure, and throw off the symmetry built into Washington, DC\u2019s historical centre.<\/p>\n
Critics have also questioned the ethics of accepting private donations, as such funds could be seen as a means of purchasing influence.<\/p>\n
But commissions helmed by Trump allies have already given the project their approval, despite lingering questions about the ballroom\u2019s shifting designs.<\/p>\n
In February, the Commission of Fine Arts gave the ballroom its go-ahead, and this past week, the National Capital Planning Commission also voted in its favour.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The administration of United States President Donald Trump has filed an emergency motion to resume construction on its White House ballroom, arguing that completing the work is necessary for national security. On Friday, lawyers for the Trump administration and the National Park Service called a recent court decision to pause construction \u201cshocking, unprecedented, and improper\u201d. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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