Judge again halts construction of Trump’s White House ballroom, but allows work on underground bunker to proceed

A federal judge on Thursday issued a new order halting construction of President Donald Trump’s vaunted new ballroom at the White House, ruling that the administration was using fancy footwork to try to circumvent his previous decision.

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U.S. District Judge Richard Leon previously issued an order suspending the $400 million project until the White House gets it through Congress, with an exception for “actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds.” This specifically includes an underground bunker and security measures put in place on site beneath the former East Wing structure.

Trump argued that the exception also meant the 90,000-square-foot ballroom could be built because the entire project is necessary for the safety and security of the White House. Leon did not agree.

“Defendants contend that the entire ballroom construction project, from start to finish, falls within the safety and security exception and can therefore continue unabated. This is neither a reasonable nor correct reading of my order!” Leon, a big fan of exclamation points, wrote. “It is, to say the least, unbelievable, even fallacious, that the defendants now claim that my order does not not stop the construction of the ballroom due to the safety and security exception! »

“I can’t agree,” Leon added.

National security, Leon writes, “is not a blank check to pursue otherwise illegal activities.”

The order only takes effect for seven days, giving the government time to appeal.

Leon also clarified “the scope of the injunction” he issued last month, as a federal appeals court ordered him to do last week.

The order “does not prohibit underground construction, including underground construction of national security facilities, as well as above-ground construction, except for construction of the proposed above-ground ballroom which is strictly necessary to cover, secure, and protect such national security facilities, provided that such construction does not block the above-ground size and scale of the ballroom,” Leon wrote.

The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The plaintiff in that case, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, had filed a lawsuit seeking to block the president’s pet project until it received congressional approval because the massive project exceeded his authority.

Leon agreed and issued a preliminary injunction, which the administration appealed.

The Justice Department adapted an argument Trump made after the ruling that the entire project could continue because it is necessary for national security.

Administration lawyers asked the judge to adopt their position and “clarify that under the safety and security exception, Defendants can proceed with construction of the East Wing Project as planned because the entire project advances critical national security objectives in an integrated whole.”

Indeed, “a bunker or bomb shelter cannot fulfill its function without adequate surface coverage,” they argued.

The preservation group responded that the administration’s position was a “brazen contortion of the laws of vocabulary,” and noted that the administration had previously argued that the bunker and underground facilities being built were separate from the ballroom.

That position changed after the judge’s ruling, the group said. “Bunkers, apparently, are only as good as ballrooms with 90,000 square feet and 40 feet of ceiling above,” the trust said. The group had opposed underground work.