Roberts grants Trump a stay on White House ballroom as court weighs $400m project
Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday handed President Donald Trump a temporary reprieve, allowing construction on the $400 million White House ballroom to proceed while the Supreme Court considers the administration's emergency appeal. The order, issued hours before lower-court rulings would have forced a halt to aboveground work, underscores the deepening constitutional clash over executive power in the American capital.
The one-page document, signed by Roberts because he oversees appeals from Washington, offers no reasoning and sets no timetable for a final decision. It pauses a ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who found that Mr Trump lacked congressional approval for the project and ordered a stop to work above ground. Belowground bunkers and military installations may continue.
Why is the Supreme Court involved in a White House renovation?
The case arrives at the nation's highest court as Mr Trump, a Republican, asserts sweeping presidential authority to reshape the federal estate. The administration argues that the president has total discretion to renovate the White House and other federal buildings, and that the ballroom's completion is a matter of national security. Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the lower-court halt