Divided Supreme Court rules White House ballroom construction may proceed

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that construction of the White House ballroom can continue, lifting a block on above-ground work as President Trump asserts the project is necessary for national security.

It halts a lower court ruling that would've restricted construction until Congress provided additional approvals.

Five of the court's conservative justices, including all three of Trump's appointees - Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - sided with the president. They ruled a preservationist group likely has no right to sue over one of its members' concerns about the project. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's three liberal justices in dissent.

"This Court has not found standing in circumstances like these before," the court's unsigned opinion reads. "To the contrary, we have repeatedly held that mere offense, disagreement, or distaste does not qualify."

It is not a final decision on the legality of the ballroom, and the case could ultimately return to the Supreme Court. But in the meantime, construction may proceed unimpeded. A 250-person crew is working on the ballroom 20 hours a day, seven days a week, court records indicate.

Trump tore down the East Wing last fall to make way for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the White House campus.

It faces a legal challenge from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which says the project exceeds Trump's authority. The group won in the lower courts, which agreed that Congress needed to sign off first.

"We are deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court's ruling today and respectfully disagree with the majority's opinion on standing," the group's President and CEO Brent Leggs said in a statement on Monday. "It is noteworthy that the majority did not weigh in on whether the ballroom project was in fact legal."

"In addition, this is not the final decision on the merits of our case and does not resolve our fundamental argument - that each President is a temporary steward of the People's House and does not have the unilateral authority to demolish and redesign it without the approval of Congress," Leggs added.

Roberts had briefly allowed construction to continue as the court considered the case. In dissent, he said the preservationist group's concerns were enough to give it the right to walk into federal court.

"In failing to appreciate as much, the Court misconceives the plaintiff's injury, allowing the Executive's likely infringement of the Legislature's power of the purse and authority to regulate federal property in the District of Columbia to continue," Roberts wrote. "Today's decision is no victory for the separation of powers."

He was joined by all three justices appointed by Democratic presidents, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

"The White House is not just any building," the chief justice emphasized.

The Trump administration argues the project already has the needed approvals because it uses private funds. And those arguments shouldn't be considered because the preservationist group has no right to sue over the project, the administration says.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices that allowing the group's challenge "would open the courthouse doors to any of the millions of people who visit government buildings, historic sites or parks and happen to think that they dislike something they see."

As the case has gone on, the Trump administration has also increasingly leaned into a national security argument.

It says halting the ballroom would put the president's own safety at risk, pointing the Supreme Court to the recent threat that forced Trump to board an alternate airplane; an alleged plot to disrupt the White House UFC fight; the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner; and the shootings at Trump's Butler, Pa., campaign rally and near his Florida golf course. The Justice Department says all of them were presidential assassination attempts.

And in recent days, the Trump administration has insisted the ballroom is now too far along to stop construction. The Justice Department indicated in its Supreme Court filings that the project is 65 percent complete, with a concrete-and-steel structure already stretching five stories deep and 70 feet high.

"When completed in the Summer of 2028, the magnificent Ballroom and Military Complex will be something that the entire Country is very proud of," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social after the ruling came down.

"The Project, despite the baseless lawsuit brought by the so-called National Trust for Historic Preservation of the United States, which is not in any way affiliated with the United States Government, is under budget and ahead of schedule," the president continued.

The preservationist group insists Trump is merely a tenant of the White House with limited authority for major renovations, and the courts shouldn't allow the project to continue.

"If Petitioners believe there is a pressing need for a ballroom, nothing prevents them from asking Congress for one - today, tomorrow, or any time in the future," the group wrote in court filings. "But Petitioners' efforts to foil judicial review and arrogate Congress's exclusive powers should not be rewarded."

Updated 7:52 p.m. EDT