A federal judge Tuesday ordered President Trump to suspend construction of a $400 million ballroom it demolished the East Wing of the White House to make space for, barring work from proceeding without congressional approval.
District Judge Richard Leon granted a preservationist group’s request for a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts Trump’s ballroom project.
Leon, nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, concluded that the National Trust for Historic Preservation is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims because “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”
“The president is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” the judge wrote, according to The Associated Press.
The ruling was the first major rebuke of Trump’s sweeping efforts to overhaul the White House, but it wasn’t immediately clear what it would mean for a sprawling project in which crews have long since torn down the East Wing, radically transforming the look and feel of the historic grounds.
Trump rejected the judge’s claims he needed congressional approval for the project. “He’s so wrong,” the president said. “This is being financed privately.”
Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation praised Leon’s ruling.
But it’s Pyrrhic – Quillen now has no ballroom in which to dance the right away.
