Trump Asks Supreme Court to OK Ballroom as Construction Above Ground Takes Shape
Project ‘is already 65% complete,’ court filing says.
The concrete and steel that have been slowly rising above ground where the White House East Wing once stood is meant to “stop bombs, rockets, missiles and even nuclear blasts” the Trump administration said in a court filing Friday that asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to continue construction and lift the order from a lower district court that would require the work to stop next week.
In the emergency appeal, Solicitor General John Sauer framed the ongoing construction of President Trump’s $400 million East Wing ballroom as critical for the safety of the president and his family and for future presidents.
The appeal went as far to say that the project was so far along that it couldn’t be stopped.
“Quite frankly, if the building were tragically ordered to be taken down, or even altered, by the court, there would be no way to do so,” it said.
The 90,000-square-foot project, dubbed the East Wing Modernization, was initially described by White House officials as desperately needed because large events would have to be held on the White House lawn under tents that were characterized as eyesores and unbecoming for hosting foreign leaders, dignitaries and ceremonial events. Instead, the latest filing recasts the need as a safety measure in light of the multiple assassination attempts on the president.
It reads:
“President Trump has been the target of a growing number of recent assassination attempts, including a heavily armed assassin who breached the security perimeter of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner; a gunman who opened fire at the west entrance of the White House complex; a conspiracy to deploy drones armed with explosives at the UFC Freedom 250 event; the threat of a missile attack against Air Force One on July 8; a sniper caught in the act by the Secret Service at Trump International Golf Club, Palm Beach County, Florida; and a sniper’s bullet that struck the President’s ear in Butler, Pennsylvania.”
The filing describes in detail how the structure, to this point, extends five stories deep into the ground, and is built with hardened concrete, steel, and rebar; protective missile-resistant columns, roofs, and beams; drone-proof ceilings and roofs; and bullet, ballistic, and blast-proof glass.
The project, if it moves forward, will include bomb shelters, state-of-the-art hospital and medical facilities, protective partitioning between all areas of the building, top secret military structures and equipment, military-grade venting, a single integrated air conditioning and heating system, sniper nests, and a drone port on top, elevated by the structure of the ballroom, to protect the White House and surrounding region from aerial attacks, according to the filing.
Already, two lower courts have ruled that President Trump needs approval from Congress to build the ballroom. However, construction has been allowed to continue on the underground portion.
A federal appeals court panel ruled 2-1 last week reaffirming a lower court’s ruling by United States District Judge Richard J. Leon (a George W. Bush-appointed judge) in March stating that “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have” in regards to building the ballroom. Leon in his ruling allowed the administration to continue below-ground construction while they appealed the decision.
“Each president is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House and its Executive Residence,” Judges Patricia Millett (an Obama-appointed judge) and Bradley Garcia (a Biden-appointed judge) wrote in their ruling last week. “The President has no—and claims no—constitutionally assigned authority over that property, which is designed and maintained for the use of all Presidents, current and future, and for the American people.”
In Friday’s court filing, the Trump administration said “a D.C. Circuit majority wrongly viewed the President as a mere ‘tenant’ of the White House.”
Sauer went on to argue that “The President of the United States of America is not a tenant, but rather the sole, elected head of the Executive Branch, and Congress has authorized him to renovate, secure, and protect the White House and its grounds, as other Presidents have been allowed to do, without exception.” He called the injunction “judicial overreach.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the plaintiff and nonprofit organization chartered by Congress that maintains, enhances and protects historic places, sued President Trump and other agencies of the government on December 12, 2025, just weeks after the president demolished the East Wing in late October 2025.
In response to the government’s emergency application to the Supreme Court, the National Trust, who is led by President and CEO Brent Leggs, released the following statement:
“Each court reviewing this case has ruled that construction of the Ballroom is unlawful. Each court has seriously and carefully considered the Administration’s asserted national security concerns. And each court has ruled that while underground bunker construction can continue, Ballroom construction must stop.
“The Administration has not only refused to listen, but is now actively attempting to outrun the courts by accelerating construction of the Ballroom. The Administration’s audacious Supreme Court filing [Friday] announced it would be installing another one million pounds of rebar and pouring another 3,000 cubic yards of concrete in just the next week alone, before the Appeals Court’s stay of the injunction expires next Friday.
“The Administration brazenly asserted to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that even if Ballroom construction were unlawful, not even the Supreme Court had authority to stop it. The Administration’s transparent efforts to evade the rule of law, frustrate judicial review, and limit the availability of meaningful relief in the courts must stop here. The Supreme Court should deny the Administration’s demand that it be allowed to continue Ballroom construction while it appeals.”
In the administration’s court filing it describes how construction has proceeded with four months of administrative stays. There is “a 250-person crew working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep the Project ahead of schedule and under budget. Today, the Project is 65% complete in its entirety, and moving quickly toward total completion.”
The National Trust has until Aug. 18 to respond to the president’s appeal request.
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