The Trump administration on Aug. 14 asked the Supreme Court to let construction of the White House ballroom resume after lower courts ruled the project requires congressional approval.
Construction on the project, which calls for building a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, began in September 2025. Building it required demolishing the East Wing, which President Donald Trump said was too small and in poor shape. The project is expected to cost about $400 million, all of which is expected to be funded by private donors.
Roberts directed the respondent, the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, to file a reply brief by 12 p.m. on Aug. 18.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in the court filing that the matter was of urgent importance because the federal district court’s preliminary injunction that would halt most above-ground work on the project is scheduled to take effect on Aug. 21.
The above-ground work includes the actual ballroom structure and a new East Wing building. The below-ground work, which is not currently blocked, includes a national security complex with bunkers, bomb shelters, and subterranean infrastructure related to continuity of government and presidential security.
“This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security,” he said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the district court ruling on Aug. 7, but paused the ruling for 14 days to give the federal government an opportunity to appeal.
Sauer said the D.C. Circuit erred in upholding the injunction, which “threatens the security and safety of the President of the United States” and “creates a needless interbranch collision.”
In upholding it, the appeals court wrongly treated the president as “a mere ‘tenant’ of the White House, with the district judge as his de facto landlord.”
The president is in fact “the sole, elected head of the Executive Branch, and Congress has authorized him to renovate, secure, and protect the White House and its grounds, as other Presidents have been allowed to do, without exception,” Sauer said.
The overall project is 65 percent complete and has already passed the point where major changes to the current design are feasible, he said.
The application quotes Joshua H. Fisher, director for White House Management and Administration, who said, “If work is stopped in line with the district court’s injunction, it will be a disaster.”
“Contractors will be left in limbo, and the existing building would risk dangerous instability,” Sauer added.
The National Trust pushed back against Sauer’s comments, saying the government’s position has been rejected by the courts.
Although the lower courts have ruled that work on the underground bunker may continue, each court reviewing the case has held that construction of the ballroom itself is illegal, the group said in a statement.
“The Administration has not only refused to listen, but is now actively attempting to outrun the courts by accelerating construction of the Ballroom,” the group said.
The National Trust is a private, charitable, educational nonprofit corporation chartered by Congress in 1949.
The application comes after Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) introduced H.R. 8537 in the House of Representatives on April 28. The measure would authorize ballroom construction and give the president “sole design and approval authority for the ballroom facility.”