Judge Halts Trump’s $400 Million White House Ballroom, Pauses Order for 14 Days

Overview

• U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction that stops work on the planned East Wing ballroom and delayed its effect for 14 days to allow an appeal.
• In a 35-page order, he said no statute gives the president the authority he claims and that the project cannot proceed without explicit approval from Congress.
• The Justice Department plans to appeal, and the National Capital Planning Commission still has a vote scheduled, following a 6–0 design approval by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in February.
• Trump says private donors will fund the roughly $400 million cost, including companies with federal contracts, and he now casts the build as a security upgrade with a drone-proof roof, blast shelters and secure communications.
• The judge allowed necessary security work and warned of hazards from a large excavation and a planned bunker created when the East Wing was demolished in October 2025.