Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep White House Ballroom Construction Going

The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let construction of a $400 million White House ballroom continue while a legal challenge works its way through the courts.

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed the application on August 13, asking the justices to put on hold a lower court ruling that halted the project. The request is docketed as No. 26A203 at the Supreme Court. An appeals court had given the administration until August 21 to stop most above-ground construction, but paused its own order for 14 days to give the government time to seek Supreme Court intervention (Reuters).

The fight traces back to July 31, 2025, when the White House announced plans to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom in President's Park, funded by private donations. The ballroom would seat 1,000 guests and bolster the president's capacity to host state visits. Construction began in September 2025, and the White House said it expected the project to finish well before the end of Trump's term.

What triggered the legal battle was the demolition of the historic White House East Wing to make way for the new structure. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit preservation advocacy group, sued to stop the project. Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled in the group's favor, ordering construction to stop. He wrote that the "large hole" now sitting beside the White House was "a problem of the President's own making" (Town & Country).

A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. appeals court in Washington sided with Leon, ruling that Trump must halt the ballroom because Congress has not approved the project (PBS NewsHour). The panel did allow underground bunker construction to proceed, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The administration has framed the project in national-security terms. Sauer told the Supreme Court the construction is an "integrated military complex" that includes a "totally secure ballroom space" at the East Wing, which he called "vitally required by national security" (Supreme Court filing). The plan also includes bomb shelters, medical facilities, and shielding against drones and missiles, according to the administration (Reuters).

President Trump himself rebranded the project on Truth Social, calling it a "military complex" and a "desperately needed National Security structure." He told the Supreme Court he is building a "highly integrated military complex that incorporates a classical, but highly secured, ballroom" (Bloomberg Law).

Sauer called Judge Leon's ruling "extraordinary and unlawful." He argued that halting construction now would cause irreparable harm to a project tied to national defense.

The legal question at the center is whether the president can build a major addition to the White House using private donations without congressional approval. Congress controls federal spending under the Constitution, but the administration argues that because the ballroom is privately funded and serves a national-security function, it falls outside the normal appropriations process. The lower courts have so far rejected that argument.

The Supreme Court has not indicated when it will respond to the application. If the justices decline to intervene, construction above ground stops August 21. Below ground, the bunkers can keep going.