Overview
- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche filed a petition on Sunday asking a judge to lift the March injunction and allow construction to resume, citing Saturday’s shooting near a White House checkpoint as proof of urgent risk to the President.
- Judge Richard Leon paused above‑ground work on March 31 while permitting only tasks tied directly to immediate safety, and he warned courts will not accept unsupported national‑security claims to bypass legal review.
- The DOJ filing disclosed sensitive features planned for the complex, including bomb shelters, a hospital and medical facilities, Top Secret military installations, a large drone port on the roof, and government sniper positions.
- Costs and funding remain contested: the project’s price has risen from earlier private estimates to proposals that would tap up to $1 billion in federal security money, and a Senate parliamentarian has already blocked adding that funding through reconciliation.
- Preservationists sued after the East Wing was demolished last October, saying required city and federal reviews and an environmental assessment were skipped, and appeals and early‑June oral arguments will decide whether the injunction stays in place.