Judge lets Trump's ballroom construction proceed [View all]

Source: Politico

12/16/2025 05:41 PM EST


A federal judge on Tuesday turned down preservationists’ request to halt President Donald Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom project, concluding that allowing below-ground construction to continue in the coming weeks was unlikely to produce irreparable harm to those opposed to the plan.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s request for a temporary restraining order, but said he would hear arguments early next year about whether to issue a longer-term preliminary injunction against the project.

Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, also said the Trump administration must follow through on a pledge to submit the project to the National Capital Planning Commission by the end of this year. “The court will hold them to that,” Leon said during a packed federal court hearing in Washington. “They’ve got until the end of this month.”

Leon issued the ruling after accepting a classified filing from the government detailing national security concerns about stopping the project. The submission was not made public, but it is publicly known that for decades the Presidential Emergency Operations Center was located beneath the now-demolished East Wing.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/16/white-house-ballroom-construction-ruling-00694019