A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the Trump administration to stop above-ground construction on Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom, a ruling that immediately halted the project’s most visible phase and gave the White House 14 days to ask the Supreme Court to step in.
The court upheld a preliminary injunction won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued after the administration tore down the East Wing last year to begin the project without congressional approval. The ballroom had become one of Trump’s signature second-term building efforts, and the ruling leaves the administration unable to keep raising the structure while the legal fight moves to the next court.
Trump unveiled the ballroom plans in July 2025 and said it was needed to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits and, he has also said, National Security. The building would pair a large entertaining space above ground with a security complex below ground, and government lawyers argued those features are needed to protect the White House complex from drones, ballistic missiles, biohazards and other threats.
But the three-judge panel split 2-1 and drew a line the administration had not wanted to face. The majority said whether a massive ballroom should be built is for Congress to decide, not a matter for executive self-help. It said Congress has not handed the Executive Branch free rein to dramatically redesign, reshape and reconstruct the White House to fit one president’s wishes, and added that each president is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House and its Executive Residence.
That clash is the heart of the case. Trump says the project serves security and official functions. The preservation group says there was no basis to disturb the White House at all and that a ballroom is not a national security emergency. The appeals court said its ruling does not turn on whether the ballroom is desirable and does not decide whether the administration may ultimately build it.
The next move belongs to the administration, which already lost to a federal judge twice before the appeals court stepped in. That judge had blocked above-ground construction while allowing underground work to continue. Now the government has 14 days to seek emergency review from the Supreme Court, and the legal fight will likely turn on whether the justices are willing to let construction resume before Congress has any say.
The project has been mired in legal issues since October, when the Trump administration demolished the East Wing to begin construction on a building that was first built in 1902 and was described as the most substantial change to the presidential residence in more than 70 years. The White House has not escaped the fight; the said it contacted the White House and the Department of Justice for comment.
