Federal judge indicates he won’t halt the White House ballroom project

By Devan Cole, Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge indicated Tuesday that he won’t order President Donald Trump to immediately stop work on the massive new White House ballroom.

But US District Judge Richard Leon left open the possibility that he could intervene in the high-stakes legal fight over the project at a later time.

For now, Leon said, the nation’s top historic preservation group that sued over the project hadn’t shown how it was being irreparably harmed by the construction in a way that required immediate court intervention.

But Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, warned that underground work set to be completed in coming months must not dictate the ballroom’s eventual size or shape while the early stages of the legal challenge unfold.

If it does, he said, it would have to be taken down.

Justice Department lawyer Adam Gustafson was unable to say if it was possible or likely that pouring concrete below ground would dictate the building’s eventual height or width.

“I’m not an engineer,” Gustafson said, adding that nothing suggested it would be impossible to change. He said repeatedly that the ballroom’s design is still “in progress” and the plans have “not been finalized.”

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued last week over the sprawling, privately funded project, claiming the White House has been unlawfully carrying out the construction because Trump hasn’t gotten approval from Congress or submitted his plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts for review, which would give the public a chance to weigh in.

The group asked Leon to issue an emergency court order that would pause any further work on the ballroom until Congress authorizes it, the commissions review it and relevant environmental assessments are completed.

Leon on Tuesday affirmed that the court would hold the Trump administration accountable to its assertion that officials would be holding a meeting with the National Capital Planning Commission, which it agreed to do by the end of December.

“Let me assure you of something, the court will hold them to that,” the judge said.

There have already been some clashes over the project. Earlier this month, Trump hired a new architect amid disputes over the scope and size of the ballroom with the original architect.

Trump, according to a memorandum from the Justice Department, has been “has been intimately engaged in the implementation phase.”

Trump on Tuesday applauded the ruling during a White House event, saying, “We just won the case. We get sued. We’re donating a $400 million ballroom, and we got sued.”

Upon announcing the project, the White House said the ballroom would cost approximately $200 million. In October, Trump said it would cost “about $300 million” and that $350 million was raised through private donations. CNN has reached out to the White House inquiring if $400 million is the current estimate.

The president has maintained the White House project wasn’t subject to any oversight and should be able to continue with it without any serious scrutiny.

Yet the lawsuit, coming weeks after crews finished tearing down the historic East Wing, quickly put the president on the defense and forced officials to reveal in court papers more about what was being done behind the scenes.

An official with the National Park Service, which is a named defendant in the case, said in court papers submitted Monday that above-ground work on the ballroom would not begin until at least April and that efforts were underway for the White House to coordinate with the pair of commissions.

A separate sworn statement submitted to Leon by a US Secret Service official said that any pause on work at the site could “hamper” the agency’s “ability to meet its statutory obligations and protective mission” since a contractor involved in the project is still working to provide temporary security and safety measures around it.

In court on Tuesday, Ted Heuer, an attorney for the preservation group, told the judge it was worried that absent his intervention now, the “location, size and shape” of the ballroom would be “locked in” given the ongoing below-ground work and said their case was all about ensuring the president followed federal law governing construction projects in Washington, DC.

”It’s not about the need for a ballroom, it’s about the need to follow the law,” Heuer said, adding that had the group seen the assessments that were revealed in court papers Monday sooner, “we would have sued” before demolition of the East Wing began.

Allowing work to continue on the below-ground part of the project, Heuer said, could render public input on it during the commissions’ review process meaningless.

“The more you lock it in, the more your comments afterward are symbolic,” he said.

In attempting to get the judge to intervene now, Heuer said the group did not oppose an order that would halt construction but exempt “limited actions for the sole purpose” of presidential safety.

Leon, who set another hearing in the case for mid-January, said he would issue a written decision “within the next day.”

Quickly seizing on the judge’s statements, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X following the hearing that her department would continue defending the project in court.

“President Trump has faced countless bad-faith left-wing legal attacks — this was no different,” she wrote.

Project may take until mid-2028

Documents filed by the Trump administration Monday provided some new details on the timeline and scope of the project, which it says will be completed in “summer 2028” – months before Trump leaves office.

The iconic East Colonnade, which was demolished, will be rebuilt and reimagined with an “enclosed second story,” according to the National Park Service. There will be an entrance from the new colonnade into the East Room, as well as to the ground floor of the Executive Mansion. The filings also suggest the new ballroom will be “55 feet tall.”

The documents also provided a more detailed accounting of efforts to preserve historic furniture, paintings, and artifacts from the East Wing, including “wood paneling, light fixtures, movie theater elements, and interior elements,” as well as “exterior columns, Seneca sandstone, the East Wing commemorative cornerstone and bronze plaque from the 1942 renovation, wrought iron fencing and gate, the Kennedy Garden arbor, two fanlight windows from the East Colonnade, and cobblestone paving.” Many of these items, NPS said, could later be reinstalled.

There were also efforts to scan and document the East Wing and East Colonnade before the demolition.

A pair of historic Southern Magnolia trees planted during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration, NPS said, were removed and will be replanted.

An environmental assessment from NPS also offered new insight into other options that were considered before the East Wing, which has housed the Office of the First Lady for decades, was destroyed. Options that preserved the entire East Wing and placed the new ballroom structure south of the existing complex were considered, but ultimately it was decided that the new ballroom needed to be adjacent to the Executive Mansion with enclosed access, it said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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