Supreme Court Clears Way for Trump's $400 Million White House Ballroom

Washington —

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that construction of President Donald Trump's $400 million White House ballroom can continue, blocking lower court orders that had threatened to halt work on the project, CBS News and CNBC reported.

The 5-4 decision came in an unsigned order from the court's conservative majority. The justices did not decide whether Trump has the legal authority to build the ballroom without approval from Congress, according to CBS News. Instead, they found that the group suing to stop the project, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, likely does not have the legal standing needed to bring the case in the first place.

The order lifts injunctions issued by lower courts that had paused construction while the lawsuit played out, CNBC reported. Because the Supreme Court ruled only on standing, the underlying question of whether the White House needed congressional sign off to add the ballroom to federal parkland remains unresolved and could still be litigated in the lower courts.

A Dissent From the Chief Justice

Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by the court's three liberal justices, dissented. Roberts wrote that the construction is "likely unlawful" because Congress has not given the executive branch the express authority required to erect a new building on federal park land, according to CNBC. "Today's decision is no victory for the separation of powers," he wrote.

Roberts's dissent argued that the majority's approach to standing let the administration sidestep a serious legal question about the limits of presidential power over federal property, according to CNBC's account of the opinion.

The Case Behind the Ruling

The National Trust had argued that Trump lacked unilateral power to move forward with the ballroom. Its case relied partly on a declaration from board member Alison Hoagland, a Washington preservationist who said she would suffer personal and professional harm from seeing the finished ballroom during her monthly visits to the neighborhood.

The majority rejected that argument, finding that Hoagland's objections to the sight of the building did not amount to the kind of concrete, particularized injury required to bring a lawsuit, according to CBS News. With the injunctions lifted, construction on the $400 million project can proceed while any further legal challenges move through the lower courts.