A federal appeals court blocked President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project on Friday, saying that all work except below-ground construction must stop, including projects the president argues are needed for security.
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction granted earlier this year to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued last year after the administration demolished the East Wing to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom without seeking authorization from Congress.
The appeals court, however, stayed its own ruling for two weeks to allow the Trump administration to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
“The Constitution assigns Congress — not the Executive — the responsibility to decide whether proposed changes to the physical design of the White House may proceed, even where those changes are said to serve security interests,” Judges Patricia Millett and Bradley Garcia — jurists appointed by former President Barack Obama and Joe Biden, respectively — wrote in the majority opinion.
“The Defendants have not shown that Congress delegated that authority to either the President or the National Park Service. Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” the ruling continued.
Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump, dissented.
“The district court seized supervision of construction at the White House, and my colleagues affirm this judicial overreach,” Rao wrote. “Because the injunction is beyond the proper province of the federal courts, construction should be allowed to continue.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a congressionally chartered nonprofit dedicated to preserving historic sites, filed a lawsuit in December 2025 after the Trump administration began tearing down the historic East Wing without seeking review from federal preservation boards or express authorization from Congress.
The president initially said the ballroom, which has become increasingly expensive, would be built “near” the White House “but not touching it.” However, all of the East Wing was demolished to make room for it.
His administration has defended the project as a necessary and secure expansion to the White House complex, among other major renovations and expensive architectural overhauls.
Trump blasted the two judges appointed by Democratic presidents in a lengthy Truth Social post, writing that the administration will “immediately” appeal the ruling, which he described as “horrendous, politically motivated and unlawful.”
The decision “jeopardizes the lives and welfare of the people who work, and will be working, at the White House — including all future Presidents of the United States, and their families, as well as the lives of all those visiting, such as Heads of State and other Dignitaries, and all Americans who wish to visit the historic, beautiful Executive Mansion,” the president wrote, reiterating his longstanding argument that the ballroom is essential to national security.