NEW DELHI: The US Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling on September1 let Donald Trump’s administration continue construction of his White House ballroom complex while the president challenged a judicial order that would halt much of the development, with Chief Justice John Roberts in a dissent calling the project “likely unlawful.”
The court granted the administration’s request to block a lower court’s order halting aboveground construction of the $400 million ballroom while a lawsuit by a historic preservation group seeking to stop the project proceeds.
The nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation sued last year after the administration tore down the White House East Wing and began building a 90,000-squarefoot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom without seeking specific approval from Congress. Trump has said the ballroom will be “the greatest of its kind ever built.”
The latest ruling, lauded by Trump, was powered by five of the court’s six conservative justices. They wrote that the plaintiffs lacked the necessary legal standing to sue. They also said the government would likely suffer “irreparable harm” if the project were blocked, citing national security concerns.
“The ballroom is a building or structure being erected on federal park grounds — President’s Park — in the District of Columbia. Yet Congress has not passed any law resembling ‘express authority’ for the Executive’s construction of it,” Roberts wrote.
