Ruling gives more time for work on Trump's White House ballroom
Mike SniderA federal court of appeals has ruled work can continue on President Trump's new $400 million White House ballroom – for now.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on April 11, that construction on the ballroom can proceed until at least April 17. That extends by three days a March 31 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, which allowed construction to continue while the government appealed the decision.
The appeals judges voted 2-1 to extend the pause to April 17 and asked the district court to clarify the order that granted the injunction. The Trump Administration argued in an April 3 motion that the potential April 14 work stoppage left the White House "open and exposed" and created "grave national-security harms" to the building, the president and his family and staff.
Leon, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush, had ruled construction on the 90,000-square-foot ballroom must pause while a lawsuit, filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, made its way through the courts. The lawsuit seeks to halt the $400 million project on the site of the recently demolished East Wing, alleging it is unlawful and has asked the court to halt further construction until the plans go through a legally mandated review process.
In the order issued April 11, the three-judge panel wrote that “it remains unclear whether and to what extent the development of certain aspects of the proposed ballroom is necessary to ensure the safety and security of those below-ground national security upgrades, or otherwise to ensure the safety of the White House and its occupants while the appeal proceeds.”
So the panel asked Leon to address how his earlier ruling handles the issue of "safety and security pending litigation.”
The three-judge panel is made up of Patricia Ann Millett, appointed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama; Bradley Garcia, a 2023 appointee of President Joe Biden; and Neomi Rao, appointed by Trump in 2018 to replace Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the appeals court.
Rao issued a dissenting statement arguing that the National Trust "lacks standing to sue" and that Trump is authorized to make improvements to the White House.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued in December 2025, arguing Trump exceeded his authority when he razed the historic East Wing – originally built in 1902 during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency and expanded in 1942 – without congressional authorization.
Contributing: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY; and Reuters
Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & [email protected].