Preservationist group urges Supreme Court to stop Trump ballroom creation

A preservationist group suing the Trump administration over the White House ballroom project urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to maintain an order that would halt construction on the project beginning on Friday.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration last year to stop construction, and both a federal district court and a federal appeals court sided with the group. The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered construction on the East Wing renovations, including the ballroom, to stop on Friday, leading the administration to file an emergency petition last week to the Supreme Court. The preservationist group filed its response to the petition on Tuesday, urging the high court to keep in place the 2-1 D.C. Circuit ruling, which called on the administration to get permission from Congress to continue construction.

"In the end, the question is not 'whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy.' Nor is it even whether Petitioners may ultimately construct the ballroom. The question is simply who decides whether a ballroom can be built on federal property. Our constitutional system and federal law commits that choice to Congress," the preservationist group's brief reads.