On Friday, the ruling confirmed a temporary court order that stopped the construction.The decision was paused for 14 days, giving the Trump administration time to ask the Supreme Court to review the ruling.
The ballroom has been a big focus for the president.
Last year, he said it would be “absolutely magnificent construction” and “one of the best anywhere in the world.”
BREAKING: The D.C. Circuit has ruled against construction of the White House ballroom, saying it requires congressional approval. Decision is delayed 14 days to permit time for appeal. https://t.co/U5dLHrSYkZ pic.twitter.com/ny8yNEuczb
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 7, 2026
Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney flagged the ruling and noted a section of the opinion that highlighted the historical significance of the White House as the “People’s House”:
The White House is the People’s House, and under the Constitution’s Property Clause, Congress exercises plenary control over the building and its surrounding land. The White House is also the centerpiece of President’s Park, a National Park stewarded by the National Park Service. According to the government, as the oldest public building in the District of Columbia, the White House is the crown jewel not just of President’s Park, but also of the Lafayette Square National Historic Landmark District, a site listed for preservation in the National Register of Historic Places. See Finding of No Significant Impact, White House East Wing Modernization & State Ballroom Environmental Assessment (“FONSI”), ECF No. 14-2, at 5. The founding architect of the Nation’s capital, Pierre L’Enfant, designed the capital city’s layout to focus on the towering Capitol building the gleaming palace of the people in the new democracy— and to contrast it with the simple humility of the White House. See SCOTT W. BERG, GRAND AVENUES: THE STORY OF PIERRE CHARLES L’ENFANT 112 (2008) (“Where the king’s bedroom was placed on the central axis of Versailles, enshrining the rule of divine right transferred via primogeniture, here in L’Enfant’s plan the home of Congress took center stage.”); FONSI at 5 (“Situated on a high point within the city, the White House is a focal point on the principal north-south axis of L’Enfant’s plan.”).’
However, the court did take pains to not it was not ultimately ruling on the merits of the construction itself:
This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom. What it does mean is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require. At this preliminary stage, the National Trust has shown, compellingly, that Congress has not ceded unfettered authority to the Executive Branch to dramatically redesign, reshape, and reconstruct the White House — the People’s House — to fit a particular President’s desires.
But the project has caused a lot of problems.
Trump had promised that the construction wouldn’t affect the existing building and would be close to the East Wing but not touching it.
However, soon after he made that promise public, the building’s outside wall was torn down, then a big part of the structure, and eventually, the entire East Wing was demolished.
At first, the president claimed the projects were being paid for by private donors.
But it wasn’t clear who exactly was giving the money.This has raised concerns about conflicts of interest.
After an attempt to shoot people at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump and some Republicans argued for hundreds of millions of dollars in public money to fund the ballroom.
In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation started a lawsuit.
They said the Trump administration broke the law by not getting approval from Congress and not sharing plans with the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts.
The group also said the project broke the National Environmental Policy Act.
This is because the White House didn’t do and share an environmental review before tearing down the East Wing and getting rid of the construction waste.
The complaint said, “No president is legally allowed to tear down parts of the White House without any review — not President Trump, not [former] President Joe Biden, and not anyone else.”
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