Overview
- A divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit upheld a lower-court injunction on the project and ordered above-ground construction stopped, though the court stayed that order for 14 days to allow an immediate Supreme Court appeal.
- The majority wrote that major, permanent changes to the White House are a matter for Congress because the residence is federal property that presidents occupy temporarily.
- Judges in the majority rejected the administration’s broad national-security argument as insufficient to override statutory and constitutional limits on executive action.
- The project began last year with demolition of the East Wing, advanced above-ground work this spring, is estimated at about 8,200 square meters and has been reported to cost roughly $200–$400 million while the White House says private donors will fund it.
- The administration said it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, and if the high court does not intervene within the stay period, above-ground work must halt pending further proceedings, a step that could reshape the balance of congressional oversight and preservation rules for federal historic property.