Federal Appeals Court Slams Brakes On Trump’s White House Ballroom Construction Blitz
President Donald Trump’s construction blitz seeking to modernize the East Wing of the White House appears to have been handed a major setback after a federal appeals court determined Friday the effort to be illegal.
Thomas Wong · Aug 7, 2026 · 5 min read
President Donald Trump’s White House construction blitz appears to have hit a major snag after a federal appeals court determined Friday that the effort was illegal.
Following the administration’s immediate appeal of a March 31 order by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon — an appointee of President George W. Bush — halting the project’s non-security-related work, the case was taken up by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which stayed Leon’s order.
Yaakov Roth, the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, argued June 5 before a panel of three circuit judges: Barack Obama-appointed Patricia Millett, Joe Biden-appointed Bradley Garcia, and Trump-appointed Neomi Rao. Roth claimed three grounds for a reversal of Leon’s order: a lack of standing and the timeliness of the Dec. 12, 2025 lawsuit by the plaintiff, the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States; that existing funding and oversight of the President’s Park, rather than requiring specific congressional approvals, were sufficient project authorizations; and that even the judiciary could and should not interfere in work — already well underway — related to national security upgrades.