Trump asks Supreme Court to allow White House ballroom construction to continue

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow him to continue construction of a sprawling ballroom adjacent to the White House.

The emergency application follows an August 7 ruling by an appeals court in Washington upholding a federal judge’s decision that would block work on site while litigation moves forward.

“If allowed to go into effect, the injunction would wrongfully install a single district judge as sole arbiter of what further construction is ‘strictly necessary’ to protect the safety of the President, his family, staff members, and visitors to the White House, including foreign dignitaries, and presidents and prime ministers of other countries,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in the filing.

The appeals court decision has yet to go into effect, meaning construction continues while the Supreme Court decides what to do next. The deadline for the justices to act is Aug. 21.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.

He had originally said that the White House could move forward with below-ground construction of security and medical facilities, but not the ballroom itself.

Leon later ruled that all construction would have to stop, but the administration immediately appealed, and his ruling has not gone into effect.

One key issue in the case is whether the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which brought the underlying lawsuit, has legal standing to sue based on its members being harmed by construction of a building they object to on aesthetic grounds.

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