Court stays ruling two weeks for Supreme Court appeal
The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that President Donald Trump must obtain Congress’s approval to build his proposed White House ballroom, ordering construction halted in a decision that sided with historic preservationists who sued to stop the project. The court wrote that the authority over the ballroom project rests with the legislative branch, not the executive.
“Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” the court wrote.
The ruling addressed the procedural question of congressional authorization rather than the merits of the project itself. “This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy,” the court wrote. “This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom.”
What the ruling does establish, the court said, is that the administration may not proceed with construction during the district court’s litigation without first securing Congress’s authorization. “What it does mean… is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require,” the court continued.
The appeals court said it would stay its own ruling for two weeks to allow the administration to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.