{"id":3544,"date":"2026-08-07T17:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T17:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=3544"},"modified":"2026-08-07T17:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T17:34:18","slug":"appeals-court-rules-trump-cant-build-white-house-ballroom-without-congressional-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=3544","title":{"rendered":"Appeals court rules Trump can\u2019t build White House ballroom without congressional approval"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…<\/strong><\/div>\n
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By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A federal appeals court on Friday ordered President Donald Trump\u2019s administration to halt construction of its\u00a0$400 million ballroom\u00a0at the White House because the project lacks congressional approval.<\/p>\n

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Trump doesn\u2019t have the unilateral authority to build a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom where the White House\u2019s East Wing stood before he\u00a0ordered its demolition\u00a0last fall, according to the decision by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.<\/p>\n

The Republican president said in a post on social media that he would be appealing what he called an \u201cunjust decision\u201d to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s ruling marked the second time this week the Trump administration has made headlines for construction plans that have been called into question.\u00a0An assessment by the National Park Service found that a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch that Trump has proposed building could compromise the historical significance of dozens of sites near its planned location on a traffic circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n

In a 2-1 decision on the ballroom, the appeals court sided with historic preservationists who sued to stop construction of the massive structure, which has begun to rise aboveground on the east side of the White House, according to the most recent aerial photos of the site. The court said it would stay its ruling for two weeks to give the administration time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,\u201d the court wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat it does mean,\u201d the court continued, \u201cis that the Defendants may not do so during the district court\u2019s expeditious litigation without securing Congress\u2019s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump insists Congress\u2019 approval is unnecessary<\/h4>\n

The president reacted to the ruling with a lengthy post on social media in which he quoted from a dissenting opinion issued by Judge Neomi Rao, whom he nominated. He also described the plans for the facility to include bomb shelters, a hospital and medical facilities, \u201cTop Secret Military Facilities\u201d and other security features.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Military and Secret Service are viewing this horrendous, politically motivated, and unlawful ruling as a National Security threat to our Nation in that the entire Complex is being built for the protection of our Country and, additionally, all future Presidents,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

After the lower court earlier this year ordered a halt to aboveground construction, the president argued that permission from Congress to build the ballroom was unnecessary because public money was not being used to pay for it.<\/p>\n

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Trump has said he has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from corporations and wealthy people, including himself, to cover the construction costs.<\/p>\n

But the Trump administration requested $1 billion for the ballroom, which Congress refused in May. In June,\u00a0Democrats warned\u00a0that $350 million in funds from a tax cuts law appeared to have been redirected for the ballroom.<\/p>\n

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the nonprofit organization that brought the lawsuit against the Trump administration, said Friday\u2019s decision affirmed \u201cthe American people\u2019s right to voice their opinions about the historic places they cherish,\u201d including the White House.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFrom the beginning, our position has been clear and consistent: the law states that only Congress can authorize the construction of a ballroom at the White House,\u201d Brent Leggs, the group\u2019s president and CEO, said in a statement. \u201cWe are pleased with the DC Circuit Court\u2019s decision to uphold the District Court\u2019s preliminary injunction, which although stayed for 14 days will block any above-ground ballroom construction unless and until Congress takes action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The divided appeals court panel upheld an April 16 order from Leon for the Trump administration to halt aboveground work on the ballroom. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, allowed construction to continue on underground work on a bunker and other \u201cnational security facilities\u201d at the site.<\/p>\n

The appeals court case was assigned to Judges Rao, Patricia Millett and Bradley Garcia. Millett was nominated to the court by Democratic President Barack Obama. Garcia was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden. Both Millett and Garcia backed the decision, while Rao opposed it.<\/p>\n

Preservationists challenge Trump in court<\/h4>\n

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to challenge the project in December 2025, a week after completion of the East Wing demolition to make way for a ballroom that Trump says would hold 999 people.<\/p>\n

Government lawyers have argued that the project \u2014\u00a0the biggest structural change\u00a0to the White House in more than 70 years \u2014 must move forward because it includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese upgrades, alterations, and improvements are essential to protecting the President, his family, and his staff, as well as the White House itself, and the entire project flows from them,\u201d government attorneys wrote in a court filing.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for the preservation group countered that the lack of a White House ballroom doesn\u2019t constitute a national security emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat commonsense conclusion is not clearly erroneous, and there is no basis to disturb it,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0\u00a0that the government also appealed, Leon barred aboveground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. In response, the appeals court instructed the judge to reconsider the national security implications of stopping construction.<\/p>\n

In his most recent decision, Leon ordered a stop only to the aboveground construction of the planned ballroom. The judge stressed that the White House is free to proceed with underground work, including the construction of any bunkers, military installations and medical facilities.<\/p>\n

On April 2, Trump\u2019s ballroom\u00a0won final approval\u00a0from the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, which is charged with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region.<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Gary Fields and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more As Colorado universities align with ChatGPT, student AI resisters take a stand against the \u2018plagiarism machine\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump must seek approval from Congress to build his proposed White House ballroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-politics","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nAppeals court rules Trump can\u2019t build White House ballroom without congressional approval - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=3544\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Appeals court rules Trump can\u2019t build White House ballroom without congressional approval - 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