{"id":15371,"date":"2026-03-18T15:32:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T07:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T07:32:42","slug":"judge-skeptical-over-trump-ballroom-project-amid-new-bid-to-halt-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371","title":{"rendered":"Judge skeptical over Trump ballroom project amid new bid to halt it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"314\" height=\"172\" src=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ScreenShot_2026-03-18_152905_126.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ScreenShot_2026-03-18_152905_126.png 314w, https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ScreenShot_2026-03-18_152905_126-300x164.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 314px) 100vw, 314px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A federal judge seemed freshly skeptical of President Trump\u2019s White House ballroom construction project as he weighed a new bid by preservationists to halt it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Tuesday sharply pressed the Justice Department (DOJ) over the varying authorities it listed as reasons the president\u2019s $400 million construction project should be allowed to proceed without congressional approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis has been a case where there have been shifting theories, shifting dynamics, I regret to say, from the beginning,\u201d said the judge, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump began demolishing the East Wing in October to clear the way for the site of the new ballroom, a 90,000-square-foot project where state dinners, galas and other events are expected to be held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ballroom is slated for completion by 2028 and is being funded mostly by private donors. A panel of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose commissioners were appointed by Trump in January, approved the proposal last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration in December to stop the project until the White House abides by federal law and other rules, such as obtaining congressional approval and going through multiple independent reviews and a public comment period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawyers for the preservationists said Tuesday that the government has put the court on a \u201cmonthslong merry-go-round ride\u201d regarding who is in charge of the project, complicating legal review, but now claims that the project is too far along to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat they can\u2019t do here is have it both ways,\u201d said lawyer Thaddeus Heuer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But DOJ lawyer Yaakov Roth said the ballroom construction project has always had a \u201cdual source of funding and dual source of authority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leon called it a \u201cbrazen interpretation of the law\u2019s vocabulary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judge noted several times that the White House isn\u2019t just any national park. He called it an \u201ciconic symbol of this nation\u201d and described Trump as a \u201csteward\u201d of the building as president, not its owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The East Wing demolition was met with swift backlash from preservationists, historians and Democratic lawmakers, who slammed the White House for bypassing the traditional process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere is no track record of this ever being done,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judge previously declined to halt the construction of the ballroom. He ruled last month that the preservationists did not properly challenge the renovations, offering the organization a chance to amend its complaint, which he could reconsider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo be fair, the President\u2019s source of legal authority to construct the ballroom was not apparent before the National Trust brought its motion,\u201d the judge wrote in his Feb. 26 ruling. \u201cAnd to make things murkier, Defendants initially suggested that there was a dispute about the President\u2019s constitutional authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut Defendants\u2019 subsequent abandonment of any constitutional claims of authority places this case \u2014 as it now stands \u2014 squarely in\u201d the territory of Supreme Court precedent regarding when courts can second-guess the president, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a new complaint and asked Leon to block the project again, which is the matter now before him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Roth said Tuesday that, even if the judge sides with the preservationists, he should not order construction halted, citing national security and \u201cpractical reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leon said he would aim to rule by the end of the month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge seemed freshly skeptical of President Trump\u2019s White House ballroom construction project as he weighed a new bid by preservationists to halt it. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Tuesday sharply pressed the Justice Department (DOJ) over the varying authorities it listed as reasons the president\u2019s $400 million construction project should be allowed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":15372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1708,1594,4031],"class_list":["post-15371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-judge","tag-over","tag-skeptical"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Judge skeptical over Trump ballroom project amid new bid to halt it - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge skeptical over Trump ballroom project amid new bid to halt it - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal judge seemed freshly skeptical of President Trump\u2019s White House ballroom construction project as he weighed a new bid by preservationists to halt it. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Tuesday sharply pressed the Justice Department (DOJ) over the varying authorities it listed as reasons the president\u2019s $400 million construction project should be allowed [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T07:32:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T07:32:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ScreenShot_2026-03-18_152905_126.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"314\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"172\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Xenia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\",\"name\":\"LISTEN WORLD\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ScreenShot_2026-03-18_152905_126.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ScreenShot_2026-03-18_152905_126.png\",\"width\":314,\"height\":172},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371\",\"name\":\"Judge skeptical over Trump ballroom project amid new bid to halt it - LISTEN WORLD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T07:32:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-18T07:32:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/0858d87b9dca5080708652d8e71bab95\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9875\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Judge skeptical over Trump ballroom project amid new bid to halt it\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/0858d87b9dca5080708652d8e71bab95\",\"name\":\"Xenia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28b948f24823b0b7ad891b285d30c0f9eb58ea462ebe1e48936fbba5e46a42c2?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28b948f24823b0b7ad891b285d30c0f9eb58ea462ebe1e48936fbba5e46a42c2?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Xenia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?author=10\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Judge skeptical over Trump ballroom project amid new bid to halt it - LISTEN WORLD","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=15371","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Judge skeptical over Trump ballroom project amid new bid to halt it - LISTEN WORLD","og_description":"A federal judge seemed freshly skeptical of President Trump\u2019s White House ballroom construction project as he weighed a new bid by preservationists to halt it. 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