President Donald Trump’s vision for a modernized East Wing of the White House suffered its first consequential setback Tuesday, after a federal judge ruled construction could not proceed without Congressional approval.
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Richard J. Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, in a long-awaited ruling, enjoined Trump administration officials “from taking any action in furtherance of the physical development of the proposed 89,000-square-foot ballroom at the former site of the East Wing of the White House, including but not limited to any further demolition, site preparation work, landscape alteration, excavation, foundation work, or other construction or related work.” While “actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House,” its grounds and project site, as well as the president and his staff, were excepted, the judge noted his ruling would otherwise take effect 14 days from its issuance, and that the administration would be required to submit proof of its compliance not more than 21 days later.
“I acknowledge that this case raises novel and weighty issues, that halting an ongoing construction project may raise logistical issues, and that Defendants intend to seek an appeal immediately,” Leon wrote in his simultaneously-issued 35-page memorandum opinion, which notably features 18 exclamation marks.
A Department of Justice official told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) that the administration intends to appeal the ruling. Hours later, its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was filed.
Record time appeal from Trump admin on the ballroom. pic.twitter.com/7AgskBTKgr
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 31, 2026
The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States filed the December 2025 lawsuit, raising concerns Leon agreed with that “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have” in order to alter the White House. The Trust especially took issue with the abrupt October 2025 demolition of the East Wing, and apparent intent of the $400 million privately-funded project to begin construction without federal approval of the design by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA).
National Trust President and CEO Carol Quillen has released the following statement in response to today’s ruling grant a preliminary injunction halting construction of the White House ballroom: https://t.co/PCLugcaBn8 pic.twitter.com/2SE5v38hZQ
— Saving Places (@SavingPlaces) March 31, 2026
Having appointed enough sympathetic commissioners to both bodies to all but rubberstamp their respective considerations of the designs of renowned architect Shalom Baranes, Trump hitherto seemed to be on a glidepath toward achieving expedited approval and beginning construction in April 2026. Despite CFA voting to approve the concept and final designs in February, and the NCPC signaling the same intent for its April 2, 2026, meeting — whose consultations Leon mandated in a Dec. 17 ruling — the larger issue appears to ask who is the ultimate authority to alter a structure so historically and visibly significant as the White House and its “balanced classical design.”
“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families,” Leon’s opinion began. “He is not, however, the owner!”
He went on to analyze how the administration interpreted appropriations bill language, such as “alteration” and “improvement,” to be an all-encompassing justification for construction projects affecting the Executive Residence. The case’s defendants were thereby “arguing that these terms are ‘capacious’ and permit the President to ‘modify’ the White House and ‘make [it] better,’ including by constructing entirely new buildings like the ballroom,” he continued. “A brazen interpretation, indeed!” He also characterized those definitions as too broad, and “divorced from ‘linguistic and statutory context.’”
“In sum, Defendants ask this Court to ignore the full text of the statute in favor of two words plucked free from all statutory context,” Leon concluded in one part of his analysis of the administration’s legal strategy.
“Grasping for straws, Defendants call the construction site a ‘coordinated and managed safety hazard’ that has disrupted existing security procedures,” Leon wrote. He went on to dismiss arguments that any delays to the project would imperil White House safety and security. “Please! While I take seriously the Government’s concerns … the existence of a ‘large hole’ beside the White House is, of course, a problem of the President’s own making! Bald assertions of ‘national security’ cannot excuse the Government’s failure to follow the law and then insulate those failures from judicial review.”
“Where does this leave us? Unfortunately for Defendants, unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop! But here is the good news. It is not too late for Congress to authorize the continued construction of the ballroom project,” Leon said. “Either way, Congress will thereby retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight over the Government’s spending. The National Trust’s interests in a constitutional and lawful process will be vindicated. And the American people will benefit from the branches of Government exercising their constitutionally prescribed roles. Not a bad outcome, that!”
Trump issued a swift, but lengthy, response to the ruling on Truth Social, calling the plaintiffs “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics” who apparently did not sue to stop other construction projects he has weighed in on.
“The National Trust for Historic Preservation sues me for a Ballroom that is under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost to the Taxpayer, and will be the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote in part. “Doesn’t make much sense.”
“He’s so wrong,” the president said about Leon, continuing to share his reaction to the ruling with reporters present in the Oval Office. He expanded his thoughts on the matter after signing an executive order, “Ensuring Citizenship Verification And Integrity In Federal Elections.”
“We built many things at the White House over the years. They don’t get congressional approval,” he observed, before detailing proposed security infrastructure he suggested could be an avenue to continue construction. “The roof is droneproof. We have secure air-handling systems. You know, bad things happen in the air if you have bad people. We have bio-defense all over. We have secure telecommunications and communications all over. We have bomb shelters that we’re building. We have a hospital and very major medical facilities that we’re building.”
“Think of that for the safety of the president,” he concluded. “On that, we’re okay.”
“In the Ballroom case, the Judge said we have to get Congressional approval. He is WRONG!” Trump later wrote, returning to Truth Social. “Congressional approval has never been given on anything, in these circumstances, big or small, having to do with construction at the White House. In this case, even less so, because the Ballroom is being built with Private Donations, no Federal Taxpayer Money!”
Nominated for the federal bench on Sept. 10, 2001, Leon was confirmed by the Senate and received his commission in February 2002. After launching his professional career as a Massachusetts Superior Court law clerk in 1974, he served in the DOJ as an Immigration and Naturalization Service attorney from 1976-77 before becoming a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Civil Division of the Southern District of New York from 1977-78. He later served from 1987-88 as deputy chief minority counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives select committee investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, the Reagan administration’s arms sales to Iran and funding to the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Contras rebel group. He also served as chief minority counsel in the House’s October Surprise Task Force from 1992-93 investigating the theory that Reagan was involved in delaying the release of American hostages in Iran until after his electoral win over President Jimmy Carter. Leon was appointed special counsel during the House’s 1994 Whitewater Investigation, which probed potential fraud relating to Arkansas real estate investments by future President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton before it was merged with investigations into the president’s personal conduct, including with Monica Lewinsky. A fellow College of the Holy Cross graduate of 1971, Leon notably represented future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his 1990 confirmation hearings for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
On May 27, 2025, Leon struck down as unconstitutional President Trump’s Executive Order 14250, which targeted the Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP’s law firm and its access to government resources due to its association with former Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
“The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting,” Leon wrote in his 73-page memorandum opinion. “The Founding
Fathers knew this!”
Editor’s note: This breaking news report was updated with additional details.
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