Overview
- Chief Justice John Roberts signed a temporary administrative stay on Friday that pauses a D.C. Circuit order that would have halted above‑ground work on President Trump’s planned 90,000‑square‑foot East Wing ballroom.
- Lower courts had split the project, with U.S. District Judge Richard Leon blocking above‑ground ballroom construction but allowing below‑ground security and bunker work to proceed, and an appeals panel upholding that injunction in a 2‑1 ruling.
- The administration told the Supreme Court the complex is roughly 65 percent complete, that crews have worked around the clock to accelerate the schedule, and that about $200 million in private donations has been spent or committed.
- The National Trust for Historic Preservation argues the president lacks unilateral authority and that rapid use of hard‑to‑reverse materials could make judicial relief meaningless, while the government counters the ballroom is an "integrated military complex" vital to security.
- Roberts’s order is procedural and not a merits decision, with the full Court able to extend, lift, or convert the stay as it considers core questions about congressional authorization, standing, funding and the scope of executive control over federal property.