A federal judge issued an order to halt PresidentDonald Trump's plan to build a$400 million White House ballroomat the site of the since-demolished East Wing, saying no work can proceed "absent express authorization from Congress."
U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon's ruling comes after the National Trust for Historic Preservationfiled an amended lawsuitlast month against Trump and several federal agencies asking to stop construction on the90,000-square-foot ballroom. The nonprofit group argued that Trump should have sought Congress' permission before the demolition of the East Wing.
An earlier December lawsuit had been dismissed by the judge, who said the organization did not sufficiently prove the president was exceeding his powers.
But the latest ruling stops any actions "including but not limited to any further demolition, site preparation work, landscape alteration, excavation, foundation work, or other construction or related work," other than moves that are "strictly necessary" to ensure security in the area.
Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said in a statement she was pleased with the decision.
"This is a win for the American people on a project that forever impacts one of the most beloved and iconic places in our nation," she said.
The order takes effect April 14, 14 days from the date it was issued. The White House team is required to file a report apprising the court of the status of their compliance within 21 days after the date the order takes effect.
"President Trumpclearly has the legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House – just like all of his predecessors did. We will immediately appeal this egregious decision and are confident we will prevail," White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said.
Two days before the ruling, Trump said an important part of the ballroom he's building for the White House is a "massive military complex" underneath it that was supposed to remain secret. He blamed the lawsuit for exposing the secret.
Advertisement
"Now the military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed," Trump said. "But the military's building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that's under construction and we're doing very well."
Minutes after the ruling, Trump railed against the the National Trust for Historic Preservation in apost on X, calling the group a "Radical Left Group of Lunatics whose funding was stopped by Congress in 2005."
Detailed renderings reveal the scale of the proposed 89,000-square-foot White House ballroom. The images by Shalom Baranes Associates—later removed from the National Capital Planning Commission's website—show a new East Wing roughly a city block long, longer than the West Wing and more than half the length of the adjacent Treasury Building." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
See new renderings of massive 89,000-square-foot White House ballroom
Detailed renderings reveal the scale of the proposed 89,000-square-footWhite House ballroom. The images by Shalom Baranes Associates—later removed from the National Capital Planning Commission's website—show a new East Wing roughly a city block long, longer than the West Wing and more than half the length of the adjacent Treasury Building.
"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," he wrote.
On March 23, a coalition of eight cultural heritage and architectural organizations including the National Trust for Historic Preservation jointly represented by three law firmsfiled a suitin federal district court in Washington, DC, seeking to require the Trump administration to comply with historic preservation laws and secure congressional authorization before altering the "John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts."
Trump also lashed out against theKennedy Center lawsuitin his reaction to the ballroom ruling.
"I then get sued by them over the renovation of the dilapidated and structurally unsound former Kennedy Center, now, The Trump Kennedy Center (A show of Bipartisan Unity, a Republican and Democrat President!), where all I am doing is fixing, cleaning, running, and 'sprucing up' a terribly maintained, for many years, Building, but a Building of potentially great importance."
Trump went on to complain that the preservation group had not sued the Federal Reserve for the renovations of its headquarters which he said "has been decimated and destroyed, inside and out, by an incompetent and possibly corrupt Fed Chairman" or California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the California High-Speed Rail project, a long-delayed multibillion-dollar project often dubbed a "railroad to nowhere" by critics.
On April 2, the National Capital Planning Commission, the overseer of federal property development and site designs, will vote on the ballroom project following apublic hearing which was held last month. The hearing drew more than 35,000 comments, the majority of which were negative.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY.You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trump ballroom blocked by federal judge
