A Justice Department lawyer said courts can’t halt construction of President Donald Trump’s new White House ballroom, prompting an appellate judge to question how “complete lawlessness” could theoretically continue unchecked.
“That court, this court, the Supreme Court—no court could stop the building of this, today?” Judge Patricia Millett of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit asked Justice Department lawyer Yaakov Roth during Friday oral argument in a challenge to the ballroom project. And if the government were hypothetically legally “wrong on everything,” there’s “nothing to be done?” she asked.
“That is our position,” Roth replied. He said ...