US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a legal dispute over his planned White House ballroom, seeking permission to continue construction while litigation over the project proceeds.
Trump asks Supreme Court to let White House ballroom work continue
The emergency application was filed after a Washington appeals court on 7 August upheld a federal judge’s decision that would prevent above-ground construction work at the site.
Trump’s request seeks to keep work on the project moving before the lower court ruling takes effect. The administration is asking the Supreme Court to step in while the broader legal challenge to the construction remains unresolved.
The proposed ballroom is part of Trump’s plans for a major expansion of the White House complex. The project involves constructing a large event space adjacent to the existing residence and has become the subject of legal and political scrutiny.
Solicitor General D John Sauer said, “If allowed to go into effect, the injunction would wrongfully install a single district judge as sole arbiter of what further construction is ‘strictly necessary’ to protect the safety of the President, his family, staff members, and visitors to the White House, including foreign dignitaries, and presidents and prime ministers of other countries."
The latest filing puts the Supreme Court at the centre of the dispute as Trump seeks to avoid a pause in construction. The president’s lawyers argue that the project should be allowed to proceed while the litigation continues, rather than being halted by the lower court order.
The appeals court ruling followed an earlier decision by a federal judge in Washington that would block above-ground work on the site. The 7 August ruling left that decision in place, prompting the administration to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
The legal challenge now turns on whether the justices will grant Trump’s request and allow construction to continue while the underlying case works its way through the courts.
In the new filing, Sauer said the project is now 65% complete, with a superstructure five stories deep and 70 feet high. A 250-person crew is working 20 hours a day, seven days a week, he said.
No taxpayer funds are being used, Sauer added, with the project funded by $400 million in private donations.
The Supreme Court’s decision on the emergency application will determine whether work on the White House ballroom can proceed before the wider legal dispute is resolved.
