Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Aug. 21 said the Trump administration can proceed with construction of a new White House ballroom.
Roberts, in a brief order, paused the preliminary injunction that had been entered by a U.S. district judge and upheld by a federal appeals court.
The lower court order “is hereby stayed pending further order of The Chief Justice or of the Court,” Roberts said.
Construction of the planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom began in 2025. Its cost has been pegged at $400 million, with financing coming from private donors.
That prompted the government's appeal to the Supreme Court.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which filed the case, told Roberts that a removal of the injunction would cause irreparable harm because the ballroom will be substantially finished soon absent an injunction, and be virtually impossible to deconstruct once completed, citing administration statements.
"The injuries to the National Trust, its members, and the public from the unauthorized construction of the ballroom—catalogued by Petitioners’ own Environmental Assessment and already found to be irreparable by the lower courts—will in all likelihood become irreversible," it said in a filing.