The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to clear the way for the White House ballroom project, arguing in part that the safety of the president is at stake.
The application from the National Park Service urges the justices to lift a lower court ruling that would pause the ongoing construction on Aug. 21. It calls the project an “integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security.”
“If allowed to go into effect, the injunction would wrongfully install a single district judge as sole arbiter of what further construction is ‘strictly necessary’ to protect the safety of the President, his family, staff members, and visitors to the White House, including foreign dignitaries, and presidents and prime ministers of other countries,” the filing states.
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., halted the project on Aug. 7, ruling that construction couldn’t continue without congressional approval. The administration’s previous attempts to obtain appropriated funds failed to gain enough support to advance.
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In the filing, the Trump administration cites the multiple threats and attempts on the president’s life — including the July 8 threat from Iran that caused the Secret Service to covertly remove the president from Air Force One, which ultimately was used as a decoy as he left a NATO summit on another aircraft.
The filing argues that the injunction jeopardizes the safety of the president and his family, as well as administration staff, despite the project being over a year away from completion.
It also states that presidents have a history of making major changes to the White House and its grounds, pointing to President Franklin Roosevelt’s overhaul of the West Wing in 1934. And it notes the need to modernize the now-demolished East Wing, saying the old building “no longer performed vital security functions.”
The filing also argued the courts should not step in because a “strolling passerby” does not have a legal right to file a lawsuit “no matter how strongly she feels about the White House’s appearance.” And the filing contends Congress has authorized the project.
The ballroom and its incorporated military complex have become a fixation of President Donald Trump. After making way for the project by tearing down the East Wing, work has stumbled forward, increasing in scope even as the administration shrouded what it would become and its exorbitant price tag.
The filing says the project “is 65% complete in its entirety, and moving quickly toward total completion,” and could not be deconstructed because it has been built to withstand extreme force — even “nuclear attack.”
It also says the project is “on time and under budget,” and that it’s funded with approximately $400 million in private donations and “zero taxpayer dollars are needed or required.”
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the total cost of construction around the White House is estimated to be over $900 million.
Senate Republicans requested $400 million for construction in April. That figure ballooned to $1 billion for “security improvements,” as the ballroom plan added an underground facility for the Secret Service and military components.
Neither proposal received the support to move forward, though the filing says that Congress has authorized Trump to “renovate, secure, and protect the White House and its grounds, as other Presidents have been allowed to do.”
Trump has continued to advocate for the project. He recently posted a series of images on Truth Social depicting an array of drones atop the roof of a rendered ballroom.
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