WASHINGTON — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the White House to keep moving ahead with construction of a $400 million ballroom while legal challenges continue.
The ruling supersedes a temporary order issued earlier by Chief Justice John Roberts, who had stepped in just hours before a lower-court order blocking the work was set to take effect.
The case will now move back through the lower courts. But filings indicate major parts of the White House ballroom project could be finished within months, a pace far faster than the timeline of a typical lawsuit.
The Trump administration turned to the justices after federal courts concluded the project had to be paused because it lacked approval from Congress.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which brought the lawsuit, argues that President Donald Trump does not have the unilateral power to carry out the work, which has already included demolition of the East Wing. Attorneys for the group accused the White House of trying to “outrun the courts” by pushing construction forward at speed.
In the lower courts, the administration has maintained that the president has broad authority to renovate the White House and other federal properties. Government attorneys also said the ballroom must be completed because of national security concerns, although those issues were not central when Trump first announced the privately funded project.
According to the administration, construction crews are working 20 hours a day on the planned 90,000-square-foot, or 8,400-square-meter, ballroom. Court documents say the framework is expected to be finished in November, much of the facade by April, and the full project by August 2028.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had ordered aboveground construction of the proposed ballroom to stop in April, while allowing work on underground bunkers and military installations to continue. Leon was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush.
The ruling was suspended but later upheld by a divided appeals court panel. Two judges appointed by Democratic presidents found the project was for Congress to decide and “not a matter for Executive self-help.” A third judge, appointed by Trump, found that the preservationist group that challenged the project had no legal right to sue.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer also made that argument to the justices and said the decision halting the work was “extraordinary and unlawful.” He said the completion of the project was “vitally required by national security.”
The administration has scored a series of other victories on the high court’s emergency docket, though the justices have ruled against some of the president’s signature policies after fuller review.
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