Construction on the White House ballroom can continue after the Supreme Court for now sided with the Trump administration’s request to lift a lower court order.
The one-page order was signed only by Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote that an injunction, which would have stopped work by Friday, “is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court.”
A spokesperson for the National Trust for Historic Preservation said in an email statement to NOTUS that the organization was aware of the order. “To be clear, this is not a final decision on the merits of the government’s stay application, and we await further action,” the spokesperson said.
President Donald Trump, in a social media post, said his administration is grateful for the decision. “Construction is under budget and ahead of schedule,” he said.
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Trump, when asked about the case on Wednesday, had expressed optimism that the court would allow the work to continue.
“I can’t imagine it happening,” Trump said of the possibility the court could side with the National Trust. “It’s a lawsuit that should have never been even allowed to be brought. But hopefully we’ll do very well with it.”
The administration asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for the ballroom project, arguing in part that the safety of the president is at stake. A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled in favor of the preservation group and ordered the administration to stop construction by Friday.
Even without the Supreme Court order Friday, work could still continue on the underground military facility. The lower court injunction stopped construction of the ballroom, but not the military complex that would exist beneath it.
In its original filing, the administration described the project as an “integrated military complex,” and argued that stalling the project could imperil the safety of the president and others.
Work on the project ramped up last October, when the East Wing was demolished and excavation began. The National Trust sued to stop the work, arguing that the administration needed congressional authorization, which it hadn’t obtained.
Efforts by the administration to obtain funding and approval from Congress fell flat. Democratic lawmakers objected on multiple fronts, including what they said was a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to spend taxpayer money on the project. President Donald Trump said private donations would cover the estimated $300 million cost.
As the project’s scope broadened from a ballroom to a multipurpose complex, with a military facility below ground and a drone hub on the ballroom’s roof, the anticipated cost ballooned to $600 million. Roughly half of that is expected to come from tax dollars, The Washington Post reported.
In its response to the administration’s request, the National Trust said in a filing that the public would suffer irreparable harm if the court lifted the injunction, since the building would be difficult to deconstruct once it was finished.
“Petitioners make no secret of the fact that if the Court permits construction to continue, they will declare the case over,” the filing said.
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