President Donald Trump is taking his fight for a new White House ballroom straight to the Supreme Court, arguing that lower court blocks threaten not only presidential safety but also the integrity of the Executive Branch itself.
In an emergency filing Friday, U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer urged the justices to lift restrictions on the $400 million project.
Lower courts have repeatedly insisted Trump must first secure congressional approval, but the administration contends the president already holds clear authority to protect and improve the people’s house.
The latest setback came last week from a D.C. appeals court, which ordered a halt to above-ground work on the former East Wing site while allowing the sophisticated underground bunker to proceed.
The panel paused its ruling for 14 days to permit an appeal. Sauer told the high court the partial green light is insufficient.
“The entire ballroom structure is designed to shield the military installation beneath it,” Sauer wrote.
“Halting the Project will stall this vital construction, making this President — the subject of recurrent assassination attempts — much less safe, and risking future Presidents’ safety,” Sauer added.
He stressed that past attempts on Trump’s life make the full project “absolutely required” for security.
Freezing construction now “would create a veritable obstacle course for the Secret Service, further imperiling safety.”
“The partially finished, 70-foot concrete-and-steel superstructure ‘cannot be largely left alone at this point’ without tremendous setbacks that will fundamentally compromise the integrity of everything currently built there,’ not to mention the ‘major safety risk’ from leaving it with inadequate’ stability or strength to handle wind and heavy loads on [its] own,” Sauer said.
The administration also leaned on statutory language granting the president power.
It argued Friday that “Congress gave the President the power to make “alteration[s]” and “improvement[s]” to the White House “as the President may determine.””
Sauer went further, declaring: “The President of the United States of America is not a tenant, but rather the sole, elected head of the Executive Branch, and Congress has authorized him to renovate, secure, and protect the White House and its grounds, as other Presidents have been allowed to do, without exception.”
He labeled the injunction “judicial overreach beyond the proper province of the federal courts.”
The lawsuit originated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
In its 2-1 decision, the D.C. Circuit stated: “Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help.”
The majority added: “The National Trust has shown, compellingly, that Congress has not ceded unfettered authority to the Executive Branch to dramatically redesign, reshape, and reconstruct the White House – the People’s House – to fit a particular President’s desires.”
Yet the White House maintains the ballroom is no vanity project.
At roughly 89,000 square feet—larger than the Executive Mansion itself—it will feature design elements drawn directly from the Supreme Court building “and, in particular, its [magnificent Corinthian columns] — considered the highest column order in architecture.”
Those columns, crafted from the “highest-grade Indiana limestone” shipped to Italy, “are being carved by some of the greatest artists anywhere in the world,” Sauer said. “Delivery and installation will begin shortly.”
Trump has taken a hands-on role in every detail, from layouts to marble choices, and aims for completion by summer 2028.
Construction photos from early August already show multi-level concrete supports, rebar, and heavy equipment on site.
This marks the first of the president’s signature initiatives to reach the Supreme Court after a string of lower-court roadblocks on his efforts to restore and fortify Washington landmarks.
Supporters see the emergency request as a necessary check against activist judges who would leave the nation’s leader exposed and the White House unfinished.
The high court has yet to indicate when it will make a final decision.