US Supreme Court allows Trump’s White House ballroom project to continue

President Donald Trump can continue building a ballroom at the White House after the Supreme Court overturned a lower-court order that had halted the project. The 5-4 ruling gives Trump a victory over opponents of the construction.

The conservative-majority court said the case could proceed in lower courts, but did not make a final ruling on whether the ballroom itself is lawful. The National Trust for Historic Preservation brought the challenge, and the litigation could take months or years.

The dispute centers on Trump’s decision to order the demolition of the entire East Wing, which critics say he took unilaterally and unlawfully. The Supreme Court said the government would likely ultimately prevail because the National Trust probably lacked the legal standing to sue.

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Almost every government action or project might offend someone’s feelings.

The organization’s case relies on Alison Hoagland, a Washington resident who says the ballroom’s size would harm her “aesthetic, cultural and historic interests.” The court’s five-member majority said it had never recognized standing in such circumstances and that offense, disagreement or dissatisfaction did not amount to concrete harm. “Almost every government action or project might offend someone’s feelings,” the majority wrote.

The dissenting justices took a different view. They said the project was likely unlawful because Congress had not enacted a law clearly authorizing the administration to carry it out, and they considered Hoagland’s claims sufficient for the case to be heard. Trump says the ballroom is needed for formal parties and state dinners.

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aesthetic, cultural and historic interests