WASHINGTON – A court order halting construction of President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom allows the administration to proceed with below-ground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site, a federal judge ruled Thursday in response to an appeals court's instruction to clarify an earlier decision.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's latest ruling still blocks the Trump administration's plan to start this month on above-ground construction of a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom where it demolished the East Wing of the White House.
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However, Leon stressed that below-ground work on security measures is exempt from his order suspending above-ground construction. Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.
Leon's latest ruling comes several days after a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit instructed him to reconsider the possible national security implications of stopping construction.
In his previous order, Leon barred above-ground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. The judge also ruled on March 31 that any construction work that’s necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House is exempt from the scope of the injunction. Leon said he reviewed material that the government privately submitted to him before concluding that halting construction wouldn’t jeopardize national security.
Leon had suspended his March 31 order for two weeks. He stayed his latest decision for another week, which gives the administration more time to seek Supreme Court review.
Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, said he is ordering a stop only to above-ground construction of the planned ballroom, apart from any work needed to cover or secure that part of the project. Otherwise, the Trump administration is free to proceed with construction of any excavations, bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities below the ballroom.
“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated," the judge wrote. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”
On Saturday, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it didn't have enough information to decide how much of the project can be suspended without jeopardizing the safety of the president, his family or the White House staff.
Leon said he recognizes the safety implications of the case, but stressed that “national security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity.” He also said he has “no desire or intention to be dragooned into the role of construction manager.”
On April 2, two days after Leon's previous ruling, Trump’s ballroom won final approval from the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, which is charged with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. Trump says the project is funded by private donations, although public money is paying for the bunker construction and security upgrades.