Supreme Court Lets Trump Continue Building Tacky White House Ballroom
A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Trump to continue construction on his White House ballroom.In a 5–4 decision that broke somewhat along traditional ideological lines, the court granted an emergency request filed by the Trump administration to proceed with construction on the president’s controversial plans for a White House ballroom. Justice John Roberts joined all three of the court’s liberal justices in dissenting.“Construction of the ballroom has proceeded apace for the better part of a year,” Roberts wrote on behalf of the four dissenting justices. “That construction is likely unlawful. Pursuant to its plenary constitutional authority over the District of Columbia and federal property, Congress has explicitly prohibited the construction of any ‘building or structure … on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.” … The ballroom is a building or structure being erected on federal park grounds—President’s Park—in the District of Columbia. Yet Congress has not passed any law resembling ‘express authority’ for the Executive’s construction of it.”The conservative majority, in an unsigned decision, rejected the challenge from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which was seeking to halt construction of the ballroom indefinitely. The five justices did not rule on whether construction of the ballroom was in fact legal, but determined that the National Trust lacked the legal right to challenge the project.“This Court has not found standing in circumstances like these before,” the court’s opinion read. “To the contrary, we have repeatedly held that mere offense, disagreement, or distaste does not qualify.” While the court didn’t rule on the legality of the ballroom’s construction, the decision is still a major win for Trump—and an infringement on the powers of Congress.“The White House is not just any building,” Roberts noted in the dissent. “In failing to appreciate as much, the court misconceives the plaintiff’s injury, allowing the executive’s likely infringement of the legislature’s power of the purse and authority to regulate federal property in the District of Columbia to continue.” Trump has tried to push forward his 90,000-square-foot ballroom by arguing that it will provide a secure underground facility in case of a national emergency, but a recent report revealed that a bunker already exists under the White House to protect the president and his team if necessary. Meanwhile, the skyrocketing costs of the ballroom keeps escalating. What Trump originally claimed would be a $200 million project funded by donors has now turned into a $600 million boondogglewith taxpayers on the hook for half that amount.This story has been updated.
