Federal Appeals Court Blocks Trump White House Ballroom Construction Without Congressional Authoriza

A divided federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration cannot continue non-security construction of its 89,000-square-foot White House modernization and ballroom project during litigation without congressional authorization, while giving the administration two weeks to seek Supreme Court review.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot continue constructing the above-ground portions of its expansive White House ballroom project during ongoing litigation unless Congress authorizes the work, delivering a major legal setback to a project that has advanced rapidly since the East Wing was demolished last fall. In a 2-1 opinion released Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that decisions involving construction of a massive new White House ballroom belong to Congress rather than the executive branch acting on its own. “Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” the majority wrote. “This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom.”

The court continued: “What it does mean is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require.” The majority also emphasized that every president “is a temporary tenant” of the White House rather than the owner of the property. “The President has no – and claims no – constitutionally assigned authority over that property, which is designed and maintained for the use of all Presidents, current and future, and for the American people,” the ruling said. The court delayed implementation of its decision for two weeks, providing the administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Daily Caller News Foundation said it contacted both the White House and Department of Justice for comment.

Friday’s decision is the latest turn in a legal battle that began when the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States filed its lawsuit Dec. 12, 2025, challenging the administration’s authority to proceed with the White House project. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a March 31 injunction directing the administration to “stop construction of the above-ground ballroom” until Congress authorized completion, while allowing “actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds … and provide for the personal safety of the President and his staff” [sic]. Leon’s injunction initially was set to become effective April 14, but he later clarified its scope and moved enforcement to April 23. The administration immediately appealed Leon’s order, and the D.C. Circuit first temporarily stayed the injunction while examining safety and separation-of-powers questions and later continued the stay pending further proceedings.

That temporary reprieve allowed excavation, pile driving, concrete work and other construction activity to continue, and reportedly accelerate, following the demolition of the East Wing on Oct. 20, 2025. By the time of the latest proceedings, construction had continued for 238 days after the National Trust brought its case. The project itself was first publicly announced by the White House in July 2025 and has since grown into a much broader modernization initiative encompassing an 89,000-square-foot complex and a 22,000-square-foot state ballroom. Publicly described security components include bulletproof glass, a missile-resistant and “drone-proof” steel roof and a “droneport” atop the development. Reported underground elements extend six stories below grade and include bomb shelters, secure telecommunications, biological defense systems, a hospital and other specialized medical facilities.

The project’s financing has also changed significantly from its original presentation. Initially promoted as a $400 million undertaking to be paid entirely by private donors, its estimated price has increased to $600 million. According to The Washington Post, government funding includes $155 million from the U.S. Secret Service, $149 million from the White House Military Office and $3 million from Executive Residence accounts. Those national security and taxpayer-funded components have become increasingly central to the administration’s defense of the construction as it has argued that the ballroom cannot realistically be separated from the security infrastructure beneath and around it.

The government made that case directly to the appeals court during June 5 arguments. Yaakov Roth, principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Division, argued before the three-judge panel consisting of Obama appointee Patricia Millett, Biden appointee Bradley Garcia and Trump appointee Neomi Rao. Roth advanced three principal arguments for overturning Leon: that the National Trust lacked standing and had filed its suit too late; that existing appropriations and oversight mechanisms governing President’s Park provided sufficient authority without project-specific congressional approval; and that courts could not, or should not, interfere with construction already underway when portions of that work involved national security upgrades. The majority rejected the administration’s position that those arguments allowed the non-security portions of the project to continue without congressional authorization.

The administration had increasingly emphasized the relationship between the ballroom and underground security complex after Leon intervened. Soon after Leon clarified his ruling and issued a related April 16 order, Trump argued on Truth Social that separating the above-ground and below-ground work was impossible. “[T]he underground doesn’t work, isn’t necessary, and would indeed be useless, without the above ground sections. The underground portion is wedded to, and serves, the upper portion,” Trump wrote. “It’s all tied together as one big, expensive, and very complex unit, which is vital for National Security and Military Operations of the United States of America! [sic]”

Security concerns surrounding the president became even more prominent following an April 25 assassination attempt on Trump at the Washington Hilton. The incident returned the project to national attention and was subsequently referenced in administration court submissions. The following day, Trump said, “We need the ballroom,” while describing the hotel where the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner had taken place as “not a particularly secure building.” Senate Republicans later proposed providing $1 billion in security funding to complete the project, but the proposal did not attract enough support to advance.

Leon acknowledged the unusual security considerations surrounding both the presidency and the White House but rejected the administration’s argument that they permitted unrestricted continuation of the overall construction. While saying he would not “be dragooned into the role of construction manager,” Leon wrote that “national security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity, and belated assertions that the above-ground ballroom is ‘inseparable’ from an array of security features … are not an occasion for this Court to reweigh the equities or reconsider the preliminary injunction!” Trump responded sharply on May 31, writing on Truth Social, “Judge Richard Leon should stop playing games with America’s Security!” He added: “If anything happens, he will be held responsible for the Death and Destruction caused to our Country.”

Trump has continued publicly defending both the project and the pace of construction. During the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on July 24, he criticized those responsible for the lawsuit and said the work was progressing quickly. “We told the people that did the suit they’re not good people. We told them, we said, ‘You know, you’re being very unpatriotic when you bring a suit like this,’ but it is what it is,” Trump said at the dinner. “It’s really going, it’s moving fast. We’re ahead of schedule, we’re right on budget, and it’s gonna be something like I think no country has.”

The construction fight initially centered on what the administration characterized as a modernization project for the East Wing, including details presented to planning officials about its design and ballroom component. As the litigation developed, however, the government increasingly argued that the visible ballroom could not be considered separately from the classified security work beneath it. Friday’s appellate decision does not resolve whether the project can ultimately be completed, nor does it prevent security work permitted under Leon’s original exception. Instead, the majority concluded that construction of the ballroom itself cannot continue during the underlying litigation without authorization from Congress, leaving the administration a two-week window to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.