Appeals Court Sides With Trump, Ballroom Build to Continue
Trump also responded personally, taking to Truth Social to attack Leon, calling him a “Trump Hating Judge” who “should be ashamed of himself!.
A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to continue construction on his $400 million White House ballroom, temporarily blocking a lower court order that had halted aboveground work just one day earlier.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit acted after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the administration could not proceed with visible construction at the site of the former East Wing without congressional approval. Leon had permitted only underground work, including a bunker and other security-related facilities, while halting progress on the 90,000-square-foot ballroom above.
Leon rejected the administration’s claim that the entire project fell under a national security exception.
“Defendants’ argument is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order,” Leon wrote. “National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity.”
The administration appealed Leon’s order, and the D.C. Circuit’s ruling lifts that restriction, allowing both aboveground and belowground construction to continue while the case proceeds. The panel scheduled oral arguments for June 5, when it will consider whether the administration can move forward without approval from Congress or federal agencies.
Trump ordered the East Wing demolished last fall to make room for the ballroom, which is now the subject of a legal challenge over how the project was approved.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit advocacy group, sued to block construction, arguing the administration moved forward without obtaining required approvals from Congress and federal oversight bodies. Leon agreed in part in a late March ruling, finding the administration had exceeded its authority while still allowing underground security-related work to continue during the appeal.
The administration has argued that the ballroom is necessary for large-scale events and international gatherings at the White House. Trump has also said the project will be funded largely through private donations, though taxpayer dollars will cover security-related components tied to the construction.
Trump also responded personally, taking to Truth Social to attack Leon, calling him a “Trump Hating Judge” who “should be ashamed of himself!.” In a separate post, Trump argued the project is tied to national security concerns.
“The Ballroom is deeply important to our National Security,” Trump wrote. He added that without it, future presidents would not be “Safe and Secure at Events, Future Inaugurations, or Global Summits.”
The legal challenge over the project’s approval remains ongoing.
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Comments
This whole ‘controversy’ is proof that the left and others who hate Trump will oppose ANYTHING he wants and will advocate for ANYTHING he doesn’t want. want. It’s what TDS is.
With all the things going on in the world, opposing the ballroom is downright funny.
Where does all the money for lawyers come from when those with serious TDS oppose Trump at every
turn. It must be terribly expensive. Am I paying for lawyers on both sides?
“Where does all the money for lawyers come from (…)”
From white, liberal wives of rich men…
Yes, the original complaint was from a woman that took walks around the capital and didn’t like what Trump was doing !
How could she have standing?
Well…she was walking…. which meant that she had standing.
That’s exactly the problem. She doesn’t, which is why the fact that Judge Leon even listened to her is problematic. He should not have allowed her to get her foot in the courtroom door.
Before or after girls wine night?
I was asking about lawyer fees, not who the complainers are.
Taxpayer $$$ laundered thru NGOs. It is the reason they no longer need Act Blue which laundered foreign $$$ into campaigns. Cheers –
And tomorrow some hater judge will rule the opposite. They really cannot tolerate Trump getting the ballroom, especially since it’s paid for with donations.
No, that’s not how it works. If this woman with no standing wants the stay stayed, she’ll need to appeal to the supreme court, which will throw it out without comment.
I doubt the appeal will be filed since it not only has zero chance of succeeding but that court ordered construction to continue while it would be heard. The judge that ordered the halt in the first place based on some random woman should be sanctioned. Enough of these activist judges issuing nonsense rulings because they hate Trump. Let’s start with a public dressing down and removal of Boasberg.
With the revelation of the underground bunker let’s dispense with the talk of this being a ballroom taking place of a national treasure, the East Wing. This construction is for national security purposes and the ballroom is nothing but a pretty facade that’ll get a lot of people out of the rain when there’s a big function.
The bunker could have been upgraded under the old East Wing, if there were no need for a ballroom. They’re really two separate projects that are happening at the same time on the same space. Each could have proceeded without the other.
But the East Wing was never a “national treasure”. No one will miss it. And contrary to Dem yammering, Trump kept his promise not to touch the White House itself. They don’t seem to have understood that the East Wing was a separate building.
It’s the Capitol Building that’s the “national treasure,”
That’s why they let only Democrats disrupt proceedings in it.
Democrats should shut up and take the ell.
Another worthless communist traitor judge struck down. They really need to start taking these clowns Off the Bench when they get overturned so much
Alternative headline: Appeals court sides with billionaire who likes to build things all over the world with his name on them to be a billionaire who likes to build things all over the world with his name on them and build a thing on the east wing of white house (probably, when it’s all said and done, with his name on it).
I love first world problems.
WINNING!!!!!!
Trump said he was having a ball.
IANAL but this case should be dismissed for lack of standing. This woman has no more particular injury, or possibly relief, than any other of the 330 million residents of the United States, either in terms of the impact of the ballroom construction or the funding there of.
If Congress wants to sue the Trump administration because some members believe they should have been consulted before construction began then they are perfectly capable of doing so on their own. To the standing issue again, I don’t see how getting Congressional approval would effectively provide any relief being sought. It is basically an admission the objective of the suit is to delay the project so it won’t be completed under the Trump administration. Since there’s already a hole where the East Wing was, something is going to be built there regardless of what the courts or Congress do in the meantime.
Yes, exactly. She has no standing.
Congress would have standing only if it could point to some law that requires it to be consulted. Leon had it backwards when he said there was no law that said Congress didn’t need to be consulted. There doesn’t need to be a law to say that. It doesn’t automatically get the right to be consulted about everything unless there’s a law saying otherwise.
Quite right. A judge who issues an opinion based in part that there isn’t a law saying otherwise should be removed from the bench as he has zero understanding of what a judge, indeed our entire basis of law, is about. According to his logic any person could walk around any public construction anywhere in the US, object and bring all construction to a halt. It was a bizarre ruling.
Being able to woo foreign dignitaries in an appropriate setting that shows us in the best possible light is a national security issue.
No, it isn’t. It’s an important issue, but not a security one.
The fat that it got as far as it didn’t a testament to the destruction of our judiciary
Wasn’t just a small part of the East Wing?
No, he demolished the whole thing. No big deal. It wasn’t an important building. And he kept his promise that the project wouldn’t affect the White House itself.
It’s rather strange that a judge would order that the construction of a building that has already been demolished be stopped until Congress steps in on the grounds some rando wandering around DC on vacation didn’t like the looks of demolition. The wing is torn down, something has to be built.
Assuming there is any substantive legal merit to this complaint (there isn’t) and that the parties would have had standing before construction (they didn’t), that isn’t the circumstance now and certainly won’t be after oral arguments on June 5 and certainly not afterward when a ruling would issue. The structure has been leveled and new construction will be largely underway. What is the legal remedy here a federal court would be empowered to issue consistent with the “injuries” claimed? Restoration of the old structure? Court supervised review oversight of the half completed new structure? This is more absurd than the last half dozen absurd nonsense harassing litigation instituted by democrats.
The entire Dhimmi-crat Party has gone insane. Just a bunch of hateful, lawless, vindictive, subversive, avaricious, hypocritical communists, Islamofascists and perpetual fifth columnists, ingrates and complainers/agitators.
The judiciary are just jealous because they don’t have balls.
But they’re dedicated ravers.
And that may actually be the problem. Whereas Trump has huge balls, massive balls, the greatest balls ever. Everyone agrees.
There is a need for a room to hold large scale events. Therefore a ballroom seems appropriate.
There is no need for Obama’s basketball court. Dismantle it. In fact I would do it immediately and faster than a leftist judge can issue a stop and desist.
But leave the putting green. It is also important to national security.
Indoor swimming pools, bowling alleys, basketball courts – since WW II there’s plenty of precedent for a president to order significant modifications to the president’s own residence.
The last current version of the east wing only dates to FDR, when the previous version was demolished to provide working staff offices, a 200-person ballroom, and (yes) an underground bunker. Notably the main WH itself was condemned and gutted post-WW II under Truman – when a piano falling partway thru a rotted out floor made it unavoidable to admit the problem.
The only thing kept was the outer facade – the WH itself resembles Plutarch’s thought experiment of the Ship of Theseus.
Post WW II, the 200-person capacity event room has become less and less suitable for hosting State Occasions – as most recently shown by both Obama, Trump I, and Biden having had to host such in tents – with even guesting Heads Of States having to use Porta-Potties – giving security planners nightmares about the safety of such events.
Both Obama and Biden admin officials have also had a bigger event space (and a more modern bunker) on their wish lists – so Trump (being Don The Builder) didn’t come up with the idea for this renovation out of some 2AM tweet-fevered dream. And didn’t see why it couldn’t be done – especially if all the Trump wishes for construction quality standards were paid for by private contributions – not congress.
Trump has at least as big an Ego as any successful politician, but the framing of this renovation as merely a vanity project is at best an exaggeration – if not an outright lie.
You could turn it into the Joe Biden Pickleball Court.
Because of all this bullshit everyone in the world now knows where a security bunker is. Treasonous swine.
There was always one under the white house, Nothing really changes, Besides in todays Washington china probably saw the plans before Trump did,
Everyone always knew where it was. Knowing its location doesn’t help much in getting at it.
And the man in the back said, “Everyone attack!”
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said
“Boy, I want to warn you, it’ll turn into a ballroom blitz”
Ballroom blitz, ballroom blitz
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