Judge narrows ballroom ruling, allows national security work to continue

Richard Leon tightened the leash on Donald Trump’s White House ballroom plan, allowing only below-ground national-security construction to continue while freezing the above-ground build of a project estimated at 90,000 square feet and roughly $400 million.

Leon said Thursday that his earlier ruling had been read too broadly. His clarification left intact the core of his March 31 order, which paused construction absent express congressional authorization, but narrowed the carveout to work below ground that is necessary for national security. Above-ground ballroom construction remains barred.

The distinction matters because Trump and federal agencies had argued that the security exception should apply to the whole project. They pointed to features in the design such as missile-resistant columns and drone-proof roofing, arguing that national-security needs were woven into the entire structure. Leon rejected that broader reading, signaling that the administration cannot use security language to shield the full ballroom from court scrutiny.

The fight erupted after the White House’s East Wing was demolished to make way for the project, a move that turned a disputed renovation into a full-scale legal and political confrontation. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress in 1949, sued in December 2025 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying the administration had not completed required design, environmental, and public-review steps and had not secured congressional approval before demolition and construction began.

The group said the work should have been stopped before the East Wing came down and before ballroom construction started. Its complaint also said the project had not been filed with the National Capital Planning Commission and had proceeded without environmental review or congressional approval.

Trump attacked Leon on social media after the earlier ruling, underscoring how central the ballroom dispute has become to broader questions about presidential power. For now, the court has allowed only the narrowest security-related work to move forward. The rest of the project, including the visible ballroom structure that would stand above ground, stays frozen unless the legal fight shifts or Congress steps in.