JUST IN: Chief Justice John Roberts Issues Order Allowing Trump Ballroom Construction to Proceed

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an order Friday allowing construction to resume on President Donald Trump’s ballroom project.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled the project was illegal because the Trump administration failed to get congressional approval, affirming a preliminary injunction issued by the district court blocking the construction. The decision was stayed for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

As expected, the Trump administration did appeal the order to the Supreme Court, and Roberts issued a ruling a few hours before the injunction was to take effect, as reported by The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld.

The ballroom has been a pet project for the president, who boasted last year it would be “absolutely magnificent construction” and “one of the best anywhere in the world.”

But the project has sparked significant controversy, chiefly Trump’s broken promise that the construction “won’t interfere with the current building” and would be “near [the East Wing] but not touching it.”

Instead, very soon after Trump made that public vow, the façade was demolished, then an additional major section, and eventually the East Wing was demolished in its entirety.

The president also initially touted projects as being funded by private donors, but the specifics remained murky, and the endeavor has raised ethical questions about conflicts of interest.

After the attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump and other Republicans pushed for hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funding for the ballroom.

The lawsuit was filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in December, and argued the Trump administration had violated federal law by failing to obtain congressional approval and failing to submit plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts.

The group also argued the project was a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, because the White House did not conduct and publish the required environmental assessment before demolishing the East Wing and disposing of the construction debris.

“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not [former] President Joe Biden, and not anyone else,” the complaint declared.

Friday’s ruling is not the end of the litigation, but does allow Trump to have the construction continue while the two sides battle it out in court, as The Wall Street Journal explained in its report:

Friday’s administrative stay—which came in a one-sentence order issued by Chief Justice John Roberts—doesn’t resolve the dispute. It merely preserves the situation on the ground, where a 250-person construction crew has been working nearly around the clock to erect what the administration says is a “concrete-and-steel superstructure” that is impermeable and virtually impossible to deconstruct now.

The stay issued by Roberts has no expiration and will remain in place until the Supreme Court takes further action. A longer-term decision from the court could come at any time.

This is a breaking news story and has been updated.

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