Trump’s $400-million ballroom gets temporary Supreme Court green light

Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday allowed the White House to continue construction of US President Donald Trump’s $400-million ballroom for now, as the Supreme Court considers the administration’s emergency request to intervene in lawsuits challenging the project.

The temporary order came just hours before lower-court rulings would have forced a halt to aboveground construction because Trump had not secured Congressional approval for the work.

The order will remain in place until the Supreme Court issues a more durable ruling. The one-page document offered no explanation from Roberts and gave no indication of when the full court might weigh in. Roberts signed the order because he oversees emergency appeals arising from cases filed in the capital.

Trump, never one to let a court ruling pass without a little self-congratulation, thanked Roberts and the Supreme Court during a political appearance in South Carolina later on Friday, 21 August. “When they say proceed, I think that's a good thing. That's a good thing,” Trump said.

The case reaches the nation’s highest court as Trump, a Republican, makes sweeping claims of presidential power and pushes ahead with his effort to reshape Washington in his own image — one demolition project at a time. The administration has argued that the president has broad authority to renovate the White House and other federal buildings as he sees fit, and that the ballroom must be completed because of national security concerns.

That was not, however, the pitch when Trump first unveiled the ballroom. National security was not the headline attraction then. Instead, Trump said the project would be financed through private donations, including money from himself.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation argues that Trump has no unilateral authority to undertake the work, which has already included demolishing the East Wing. Lawyers for the preservation group accused the White House of trying to “outrun the courts” by accelerating construction.

A spokesperson for the trust said Friday that Roberts’ order was not a final decision and that the group was awaiting further action. The full Supreme Court is expected to consider whether construction can continue for what could be a lengthy legal battle.

Trump, meanwhile, declared victory of sorts, writing on social media that the project was “under budget and ahead of schedule” — an assessment that fits neatly with his longstanding habit of awarding himself the highest possible marks.

The administration says 65 per cent of the planned 90,000-sq. ft (8,400-sq. m) ballroom has already been completed on the site where the East Wing once stood, before Trump ordered its demolition. Crews are working 20 hours a day, seven days a week, on the project. About $200 million in private donations has already been spent or committed, according to court documents filed by the Justice Department.

The construction has continued as the legal battle has moved through the courts. In April, a district court judge ordered a halt to aboveground construction of the ballroom. That ruling was briefly suspended before being upheld by an appeals court panel. US district judge Richard Leon in Washington allowed work to continue only below-ground on bunkers and military installations. Leon was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican.

The appeals court ruling also exposed the sharp divide over who gets to decide the fate of Trump’s grand architectural makeover. Two judges appointed by Democratic presidents said the project was a matter for Congress and “not a matter for executive self-help”. A third judge, appointed by Trump, ruled that the preservationist group challenging the project did not have legal standing to sue.

Solicitor-general D. John Sauer seized on that argument, describing the ruling halting construction as “extraordinary and unlawful”. He said completion of the ballroom was “vitally required by national security”.

The Trump administration has secured a series of victories on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, though the justices have subsequently rejected some of the president’s signature policies after considering them through the court’s fuller review process. For now, however, the bulldozers have the upper hand.

With AP/PTI inputs