A divided US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that President Donald Trump cannot proceed with above-ground construction of a vast new White House ballroom without authorisation from Congress, setting up what could become a landmark Supreme Court confrontation over the limits of executive power.
The court issued its 136-page decision on 7 August 2026, upholding a preliminary injunction that had been won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organisation that sued after the administration demolished the White House's East Wing and broke ground on the project without seeking a congressional mandate, CNBC reported.
The ballroom is planned at approximately 90,000 square feet and is estimated to cost $400 million. The administration intends to fund it entirely through private donations rather than congressional appropriations — an arrangement at the heart of the legal dispute.
The majority opinion was written by Judges Patricia A. Millett, an appointee of President Barack Obama, and Bradley N. Garcia, an appointee of President Joe Biden. Their ruling drew a clear boundary around presidential authority over the White House.
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