A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered construction of President Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom to stop, ruling that the president lacks the legal authority to build the $400 million project without approval from Congress.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, issued the preliminary injunction on Tuesday (March 31) after the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration, arguing the project violated federal law. In his ruling, Judge Leon wrote that "no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have," and pointedly reminded the administration that the president "is not, however, the owner" of the White House.

The judge delayed enforcement of the injunction for 14 days to give the administration time to appeal. The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice of appeal the same day to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The ballroom has been one of President Trump's top priorities since returning to office. According to Fox News, the project features Greco-Roman columns and is designed to span roughly 90,000 square feet. President Trump has said the ballroom is being funded through private donations, not taxpayer money, and has called it "under budget" and "ahead of schedule."

Demolition of the White House's East Wing, where the ballroom is planned, began in October 2025 and drew immediate criticism from preservationists and historians. The Commission of Fine Arts, a government panel appointed by President Trump, approved both the concept and the final design for the project with unusual speed earlier this year.

The National Trust, a nonprofit organization chartered by Congress in 1949, first sued the Trump administration in December 2025, arguing that the East Wing demolition did not go through the proper legal reviews. Judge Leon sided with the group, writing that construction may only resume if Congress explicitly approves the project or authorizes funding.

Leon sharply criticized the Trump administration's arguments as "brazen," rejecting the claim that the president holds broad authority to fund and build large-scale White House projects without congressional sign-off.

Shortly after the ruling, President Trump attacked the National Trust on Truth Social, calling the organization "a Radical Left Group of Lunatics whose funding was stopped by Congress in 2005." He also argued that congressional approval for White House construction projects "has never been given" historically, noting the ballroom is backed entirely by private donations.

The DOJ's appeal means the legal battle over the ballroom is far from over. The case will now move to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where judges will decide whether the injunction should remain in place while the broader legal fight continues.

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