Federal judge reveals how he may order Trump's ballroom to be 'taken down': report
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a model of an arch monument during a ballroom dinner in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
CNN reports U.S. District Judge Richard Leon (a George W. Bush appointee) will not halt work on President Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom, but he said he would hear arguments early next year about whether to issue a longer-term preliminary injunction against the project.
“The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued last week over the sprawling, privately funded project, claiming the White House has been unlawfully carrying out the construction because Trump hasn’t gotten approval from Congress or submitted his plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts for review, which would give the public a chance to weigh in,” CNN reports.
“It’s not about the need for a ballroom, it’s about the need to follow the law,” argued Ted Heuer, an attorney for the preservation group. He added that had the group seen the assessments that were revealed in court papers Monday sooner, “we would have sued” before demolition of the East Wing began.
The group asked Leon to issue an emergency court order that would pause any further work on the ballroom until Congress authorizes it, the commissions review it and relevant environmental assessments are completed. But Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said the nation’s top historic preservation group had failed to show how it was being irreparably harmed by the construction in a way that required immediate court intervention.
Leon added, however, that the Trump administration must follow through on a pledge to submit the project to the National Capital Planning Commission by the end of this year.
“The court will hold them to that,” Leon said during a packed federal court hearing in Washington. “They’ve got until the end of this month.”
CNN reports the judge also warned that underground work set to be completed in coming months “must not dictate the ballroom’s eventual size or shape while the early stages of the legal challenge unfold. If it does, he said, it would have to be taken down.”
Trump argues the ballroom project is not subject to any oversight from ither Congress or independent agencies and he should be able to continue with it without any serious scrutiny.
Read the full CNN report at this link.
Trump's $300M White House ballroom makeover gets green lightU.S. President Donald Trump holds a model of an arch monument during a ballroom dinner in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
December 16, 2025
ALTERNET
CNN reports U.S. District Judge Richard Leon (a George W. Bush appointee) will not halt work on President Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom, but he said he would hear arguments early next year about whether to issue a longer-term preliminary injunction against the project.
“The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued last week over the sprawling, privately funded project, claiming the White House has been unlawfully carrying out the construction because Trump hasn’t gotten approval from Congress or submitted his plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts for review, which would give the public a chance to weigh in,” CNN reports.
“It’s not about the need for a ballroom, it’s about the need to follow the law,” argued Ted Heuer, an attorney for the preservation group. He added that had the group seen the assessments that were revealed in court papers Monday sooner, “we would have sued” before demolition of the East Wing began.
The group asked Leon to issue an emergency court order that would pause any further work on the ballroom until Congress authorizes it, the commissions review it and relevant environmental assessments are completed. But Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said the nation’s top historic preservation group had failed to show how it was being irreparably harmed by the construction in a way that required immediate court intervention.
Leon added, however, that the Trump administration must follow through on a pledge to submit the project to the National Capital Planning Commission by the end of this year.
“The court will hold them to that,” Leon said during a packed federal court hearing in Washington. “They’ve got until the end of this month.”
CNN reports the judge also warned that underground work set to be completed in coming months “must not dictate the ballroom’s eventual size or shape while the early stages of the legal challenge unfold. If it does, he said, it would have to be taken down.”
Trump argues the ballroom project is not subject to any oversight from ither Congress or independent agencies and he should be able to continue with it without any serious scrutiny.
Read the full CNN report at this link.
Daniel Hampton
December 16, 2025
RAW STORY
FILE PHOTO: The demolition of the East Wing of the White House, the location of U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed ballroom is seen from an elevated position on the North side of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 23, 2025. REUTERS/ Andrew Leyden TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY/File Photo
President Donald Trump's crusade to give the White House a $300 million ballroom was allowed to proceed on Tuesday, as a federal judge denied an emergency request to halt the posh project.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a Bush-appointed judge, rejected a request from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to stop the renovation, finding that allowing subsurface work to proceed posed merely a minimal risk of permanently damaging the project's opponents, Politico reported. The preservationists had sought a temporary block. The judge agreed to consider a longer preliminary injunction when arguments resume early next year.
The Trump administration must present its plans to the National Capital Planning Commission by the end of December, the judge ordered.
"The court will hold them to that," Leon said at a crowded hearing. "They've got until the end of this month."
The judge made the decision after receiving a classified government submission warning of national security implications of halting work. Historically, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center has occupied space beneath the now-demolished East Wing.
The administration has insisted the project only requires Trump's authorization. However, it came to light this week that National Park Service officials completed an environmental assessment of the project in August and found it didn’t require a more detailed environmental review
National Trust counsel Tad Heuer dismissed that assessment as "woefully inadequate," pointing to significant deviations between approved plans and actual construction. He noted that the East Wing Colonnade was demolished in October, contradicting documentation describing "renovation."
"There are pile-drivers running around the clock," Heuer told the court. "There's ongoing construction. Every day you have more concrete, more footprint."
No comments:
Post a Comment