The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift a lower court order that temporarily halted above-ground construction of a new 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom, built after the East Wing was demolished in October 2025. Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the block 'extraordinary and unlawful,' arguing the structure is a 'totally secure ballroom space' vital to national security.
A divided D.C. Circuit panel had upheld the block, with two judges ruling Congress alone controls White House construction and hadn't funded this project; a dissenting judge argued the challenger lacked standing and the president has authority to improve his residence. The government now says construction is 65% complete, with a 250-person crew working around the clock, and that the concrete used is 'virtually impossible to deconstruct' if courts ultimately rule against it.
A White House official's declaration touted the building as already 'one of the most beautiful of its kind,' an aesthetic judgment offered in the middle of a legal filing about executive authority and unappropriated funds.
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