A federal judge clarified Thursday that his order halting construction of the White House ballroom only applies to above-ground construction, adding that below-ground construction of enhanced national security features for the complex may proceed.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, issued an opinion clarifying his order late last month to halt construction of the new White House East Wing, which includes the proposed ballroom that President Donald Trump has championed. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued over the ballroom project, requested Leon clarify what construction was covered under his exception, allowing the continuation of construction deemed important to safety and security. The Justice Department had asked the judge to treat all construction, both above-ground and below-ground, as covered under the security exception. Leon flatly rejected the DOJ’s request.
“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” Leon wrote. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”
Leon wrote that below-ground construction, including “top-secret excavations, bunkers, bomb-shelters, protective partitioning, military installations, and hospital and medical facilities,” may continue, along with “above-ground construction strictly necessary to cover, secure, and protect such facilities” but that all other above-ground construction must halt.
The DOJ argued in a filing, backed up by a declaration from a senior Secret Service official, that both below-ground and above-ground construction needed to continue for security reasons. The administration’s filing to the district court noted that above-ground elements of the ballroom included security upgrades for the White House, which it stressed were as critical to install as the underground facilities.
Leon said in his Thursday order that the DOJ’s latest filings contradict earlier court filings in which it separated the national security upgrades from the above-ground construction and argued the security threats came only from stopping below-ground construction.
“Defendants now insist that the ‘overall above-ground ballroom is necessary to accommodate and effectuate the below-ground additions (including by providing adequate, reinforced cover).’ But Defendants do not explain why the proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom—the source of the National Trust’s claimed injury and likely unauthorized by statute—is required for security purposes now,” Leon said.
“Instead, the supporting declaration states merely that an ‘above-ground slab and topping structure is [sic] needed’ to protect the underground elements,” Leon said.
SECRET SERVICE WARNS COURT OF ‘NUMEROUS SECURITY RISKS’ IF WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PROJECT HALTED NOW
Leon said his order halting above-ground construction of the new East Wing would not go into effect for another seven days, past his Thursday order to allow time to properly pause construction, but warned that “any above-ground construction over the next seven days that is not in compliance with my Amended Order is at risk of being taken down pending the resolution of this case.”
The Justice Department could appeal the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where the appellate court handed the administration a small victory last week by extending a pause on Leon’s order going into effect, or to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, where the Trump administration has had overwhelming success over the past 15 months.
