[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2242668198.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe construction of President Donald Trump\u2019s luxury ballroom will proceed as planned and replace the\u00a0East Wing of the White House, a divided Supreme Court ruled on Monday, the New York Times<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n \n\tThe National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress to guard public buildings, challenged the construction of the project. It argued that longtime member Alison K. Hoagland, a District of Columbia resident and architectural historian, was personally and professionally harmed by the destruction of the White House\u2019s East Wing, which was important to her work.<\/p>\n \n\tThe court ruled in a 5-to-4 vote that the trust did not have the legal grounds to bring its lawsuit because the persons in question were not directly harmed by the project. The majority argued that the order did not address the legality of the project, but rather the question of who could sue to block construction. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThis is not the final decision on the merits of our case and does not resolve our fundamental argument\u2014that each president is a temporary steward of the People\u2019s House and does not have the unilateral authority to demolish and redesign it without the approval of Congress,\u201d Brent Leggs, president of the trust, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \n\tChief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court\u2019s three liberal Justices argued that the construction was \u201clikely unlawful\u201d in their dissents.<\/p>\n \n\tIn his dissent, the Chief Justice wrote, the White House is \u201can iconic American building whose symbolism and history are wrapped up in its architecture.\u201d He added, \u201cAll the more reason to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People\u2019s House.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThis Supreme Court ruling reversed previous lower court orders that had slowed construction up to this point, while an earlier ruling issued by the Supreme Court within the last two weeks declined to stop the construction as it considered the case. To stop the project now would likely require a new lawsuit from an individual or group with standing like Congress, which is currently controlled by Republicans in the House and Senate.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe are living in the Golden Age of America, and this Building will be one of the Greatest ever constructed in Washington, D.C.,\u201d Trump wrote in a Truth Social post following the decision. \u201cWhen completed in the Summer of 2028, the magnificent Ballroom and Military Complex will be something that the entire Country is very proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe incoming 90,000-square-foot ballroom and military complex will almost double the size of the main building and its East and West wings. It is expected to accommodate 650 people, which more than triples the current 200-person\u00a0capacity. The renovations also include upgrades to the presidential bunker below.<\/p>\n \n\tTrump added that the project, which has grown since its initial conception, is \u201cunder budget and ahead of schedule. The Ballroom is totally funded by Great Patriots and Corporations and, therefore, is a Gift \u2014 At no cost to the American Taxpayer.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt is estimated to cost $400 million and, despite Trump\u2019s claims, the administration transferred about $350 million in taxpayer money from the Secret Service for \u201csecurity enhancements\u201d to the ballroom and bunker earlier this year in June.<\/p>\n \n\tStopping the construction of the project, the Trump administration argued in the ruling, was a national security concern. The project is now 65 percent complete, with a team of 250 people working 20 hours a day, seven days a week, per government court filings.<\/p>\n \n\tThe New York Times<\/em> previously reported that the Secret Service plans to spend $220 million to protect the ballroom, including the installation of bulletproof glass, drone detection technology, and other threat filters and detectors. The taxpayer-funded upgrades reportedly also include a $180 million\u00a0visitor screening facility for added protection.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/supreme-court-white-house-ballroom-ruling-1234796432\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2242668198.jpg?w=1024″] The construction of President Donald Trump\u2019s luxury ballroom will proceed as planned and replace the\u00a0East Wing of the White House, a divided Supreme Court ruled on Monday, the New York Times reported. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress to guard public buildings, challenged the construction of the […]<\/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-2123022","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\/2123022","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=2123022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2123022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2123022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2123022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}