A U.S. appeals court on April 17 put on hold a lower court order that had halted construction of the White House ballroom, allowing the project to proceed for now.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 17 blocked Leon’s injunction and scheduled a June 5 hearing to decide on whether the project should be halted.
The Epoch Times reached out to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which filed the lawsuit last year, but did not receive a response by publication time.
In December 2025, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit alleging that construction of the White House ballroom is unlawful and requested that the court halt the project.
The judge later clarified in an April 16 ruling that below-ground construction, including “the construction of any ‘top-secret excavations, bunkers, bomb-shelters, protective partitioning, military installations, and hospital and medical facilities,’ as well as such above-ground construction strictly necessary to cover, secure, and protect such facilities” may proceed.
Trump criticized the judge in a Truth Social post on April 17, calling his ruling “a mockery to [the U.S.] court system.”
“Everybody knew that it was planned, and going to be built. This highly political Judge, and his illegal overreach, is out of control, and costing our Nation greatly,” he wrote. “The Ballroom is deeply important to our National Security, and no Judge can be allowed to stop this Historic and Militarily Imperative Project.”
The project is expected to cost about $400 million, all of which is expected to be funded by private donors.