Judge Skeptical of Trump Power to Build White House Ballroom

A federal judge appeared skeptical that President Donald Trump may build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House after demolishing the East Wing to make way for it, criticizing the government’s “brazen interpretation” of his legal authority.

Senior Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia held a hearing on Tuesday in a historic preservationist nonprofit’s latest bid to halt the construction project, until the White House secures approval from Congress and completes other reviews.

Leon told Justice Department lawyer Yaakov Roth that he’s “struggling” to see how the government could claim that a $400 million project is authorized under a law permitting maintenance and alterations of the White House.

“That takes some brazen interpretation of the laws of vocabulary,” Leon said.

Leon also said the government “can’t equate” projects at national parks, such as a field house, to a massive ballroom at the White House, and suggested the move is an “end-run” on the appropriations process.

“This isn’t just any national park. This is a special place. This is an iconic symbol of this nation,” Leon said. “There’s no track record of anything like this being done before.”

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the administration over the ballroom in December, less than two months after the East Wing was torn down.

Trump has said the ballroom could cost as much as $400 million, raised from private funds, and could be used to host future inaugurations. Above-ground structural work is expected to start as soon as April, the government has said in past court filings.

“The imminence is now imminent,” said Thaddeus Heuer of Foley Hoag, representing the trust, as he urged him to step in. “The National Trust is entitled to more than a pyrrhic victory.”

The Trump administration is facing multiple lawsuits over its efforts to renovate historic buildings in Washington. The administration has also been sued over its plans to close the Kennedy Center for renovations and to paint the granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a 19th century site that houses offices for White House staff.

Leon has twice before rejected requests by the nonprofit to stop work on the ballroom while litigation continues.

Leon said in an order last month that the trust hadn’t correctly challenged the project, and that the “proper vehicle” would be to claim Trump acted beyond the scope of his legal powers. The nonprofit then updated its lawsuit and revived its request to halt work on the ballroom.

Leon tore into Roth at Tuesday’s hearing over what the judge described as the government’s “new theory” in a recent court filing regarding the National Park Service’s role in the project, and he pressed Roth on which entity was directing construction.

The government previously argued that the project was not led by the Park Service, but rather by a White House office, which can’t be sued under administrative law. However, in a March 12 court filing, the Justice Department referenced the law that established the Park Service as one of the authorities allowing the project to continue.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Leon said.

Roth responded that the government has “from the beginning” made clear that the Park Service accepted donations for the project, but contracted the White House office to run operations.

Roth also argued that the trust hadn’t shown the administration clearly violated the law, likening the matter to an “ordinary statutory dispute” that didn’t rise to the level needed for the nonprofit to win at this stage.

“This has been a case where there has been shifting theories, shifting dynamics, I regret to say,” Leon later said to Roth.

Leon said at the end of the hearing that he would do his “level best” to decide the case by the end of March and complimented the arguments and briefing from both sides.

The case is National Trust for Historic Preservation v. NPS, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-04316, hearing held 3/17/26.