Federal Judge Blocks Ballroom Construction at White House

Judge Richard Leon previously denied two requests to pause construction at the executive mansion.

Architect Shalom Baranes shows a site plan for the White House ballroom during a meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington on Jan. 8, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A federal judge issued an order March 31 halting for the time being the ongoing ballroom construction project at the White House that was ordered by President Donald Trump.

In his new order, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the president of the United States “is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!”

Leon said Trump claims Congress gave the president authority in current statutes to build his East Wing ballroom project “and to do it with private funds.”

The National Trust for Historic Preservation argues the president has no such authority under existing laws and that a preliminary injunction is needed to avoid irreparable harm, the judge said.

“I have concluded that the National Trust is likely to succeed on the merits because no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have,” Leon said.

The judge granted the preliminary injunction, ordering that “the ballroom construction project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion.”

The president “may at any time go to Congress to obtain express authority to construct a ballroom and to do so with private funds. Indeed, Congress may even choose to appropriate funds for the ballroom, or at least decide that some other funding scheme is acceptable,” Leon said.

“Either way, Congress will thereby retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight over the Government’s spending,” the judge added.

In a separate order, Leon said the federal government was blocked “from taking any action in furtherance of the physical development of the proposed ballroom at the former site of the East Wing of the White House.”

He said that includes but is not limited to “any further demolition, site preparation work, landscape alteration, foundation work, or other construction or related work, other than actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds, including the ballroom construction site, and provide for the personal safety of the President and his staff.”

The judge said the injunction will not take effect for 14 days, which will give the federal government an opportunity to appeal.

When approached for comment by The Epoch Times, a Department of Justice official said the government will appeal the order.

Leon previously denied two requests to pause construction at the executive mansion.

Construction on the project, which involves demolishing part of the executive mansion and building a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, began in September 2025. Trump had said the ballroom project was necessary because the East Room—the largest room for gatherings in the White House—was too small and in poor shape.

The project is expected to cost about $400 million, all of which is expected to be funded by private donors, including Trump himself. The Trump administration released a list of the private donors in October 2025. The project was expected to be completed by 2028.

The National Trust is a private, charitable, educational nonprofit corporation chartered by Congress in 1949.

Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust, hailed the new court ruling.

“We are pleased with Judge Leon’s ruling today to order a halt to any further ballroom construction until the Administration complies with the law and obtains express authorization to go forward,” she told The Epoch Times.

“This is a win for the American people on a project that forever impacts one of the most beloved and iconic places in our nation,” Quillen said.

After the ruling, Trump took to social media to denounce the National Trust for suing him.

The president described the National Trust as “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics whose funding was stopped by Congress in 2005,” in a post on Truth Social.

The group sued him over a ballroom “that is under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost to the Taxpayer, and will be the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World,” Trump said.