[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/trump-ballroom.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tIn an opinion filed March 31, \u00a0a US District Court judge for the District of Columbia has rejected the Trump administration\u2019s arguments for a 90,000-square-foot, $400 million ballroom to be erected on the former site of the East Wing, which Trump unceremoniously demolished last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tJudge Richard J. Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, came out of the gate strong, in an opinion that starts, \u201cThe President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!\u201d He goes on to use seventeen more exclamation points in the course of the 35-page opinion, which is highly dismissive of the administration\u2019s arguments.<\/p>\n
\n\tTrump claims that existing laws give him the right to construct his ballroom on the former site of the East Wing, and to complete the project with private funds. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States sees it otherwise, and sued to halt the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI have concluded that the National Trust is likely to succeed on the merits because no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have,\u201d writes Leon, who explains that Congress passed the Residence Act in 1790 to build the White House, and \u201cCongress has continued to authorize and fund construction and maintenance\u201d ever since, he notes, citing the South Portico (1823), the North Portico (1829) and the East and West Wings (1902).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe White House announced the plans for the sprawling ballroom on July 31, 2025, saying that Trump and \u201cpatriot donors\u201d would fund the project (\u201czero cost to the American Taxpayer!\u201d). He notoriously and without warning began to demolish the East Wing on October 21. The National Trust expressed concerns to various federal entities, Leon notes, including concerns that the massive ballroom would overwhelm the White House and disrupt its carefully balanced design. After getting no response, the organization filed suit to stop the project in December.<\/p>\n
\n\tLeon notes four statutes that bear on the ballroom project, including one from 1912 that states that \u201c[a] building or structure shall not be erected on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.\u201d He also notes that \u201cThe Property Clause vests Congress with complete authority over public lands.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSo,\u201d writes Leon, \u201cthe President must identify some law that allows him to demolish the East Wing and construct his planned ballroom with private funds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe judge notes that the National Trust\u2019s suit relies on an ultra vires<\/em> claim, literally meaning \u201cbeyond the powers of,\u201d which he acknowledges is \u201ca high bar,\u201d noting that the Supreme Court has described it as \u201ca Hail Mary pass.\u201d But, he writes, it is not insurmountable.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDefendants\u2019 reading of the statutes assumes that Congress has granted nearly unlimited power to the President to construct anything, anywhere on federal land in the District of Columbia, regardless of the source of funds,\u201d the judge writes. \u201cThis clearly is not how Congress and former Presidents have managed the White House for centuries, and this Court will not be the first to hold that Congress has ceded its powers in such a significant fashion!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLeon writes that 3 USC Section 105(d)(l), on which the White House largely relies for the authority to build the ballroom, \u201cplainly authorizes the President to conduct ordinary maintenance and upkeep of the White House, and nothing more!\u201d The act authorizes \u201calteration\u201d and \u201cimprovement,\u201d sure, writes the judge, but to leap from there to a 90,000-square-foot ballroom is \u201ca brazen interpretation, indeed!\u201d Based on the White House\u2019s reading, Leon writes, you could call tearing down the White House and building a skyscraper an \u201calteration\u201d or an \u201cimprovement.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnd there\u2019s much more, as when the judge writes, \u201cDefendants argue that canons of construction have no place in ultra vires review. Please!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Trump administration immediately filed an appeal. In a typically rambling Truth Social post, Trump decried the National Trust as \u201ca Radical Left Group of Lunatics\u201d and describes his ballroom as \u201cthe finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tActual builders and architects disagree about the proposed ballroom. Judge Leon\u2019s opinion follows an investigation by the New York Times <\/em>of the project\u2019s architectural merits (actually, the lack thereof) and the haste with which it has been discussed and approved by local authorities, bodies all stocked with Trump supporters. \u201cCritics warn it still has many issues\u2014its portico is too big, its stairs lead nowhere, its columns will block views from inside the ballroom,\u201d says the Times<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnd,\u201d adds the paper, \u201cthat\u2019s just the portico.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/dc-judge-orders-stop-trump-ballroom-project-1234779631\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/trump-ballroom.jpg?w=1024″] In an opinion filed March 31, \u00a0a US District Court judge for the District of Columbia has rejected the Trump administration\u2019s arguments for a 90,000-square-foot, $400 million ballroom to be erected on the former site of the East Wing, which Trump unceremoniously demolished last year.\u00a0 Judge Richard J. Leon, a George W. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1861053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1861053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1861053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1861053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1861053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}