Crucial Quote
“We do not pass upon the legality of the government’s East Wing project,” the majority wrote. “We conclude only that, based on the submissions before us, the government is likely to prevail in showing that the Trust lacks . . . standing to challenge the project in federal court.”
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Chief Critic
Roberts, writing for the justices in dissent, wrote that in ruling in Trump’s favor, “the court misconceives the plaintiff’s injury, allowing the Executive’s likely infringement of the Legislature’s power of the purse and authority to regulate federal property in the District of Columbia to continue.”
Key Background
The Trump administration has expanded the size of the project and its reasons for undertaking it since it demolished the East Wing shortly after Trump took office last year to make way for the 90,000 square-foot ballroom. The cost of the project has ballooned from the White House’s initial estimate of $200 million to at least $600 million, according to a June Washington Post analysis. The Trump administration has also argued the ballroom is necessary for security reasons, both to host events with world leaders and because it includes an underground bunker complex. It said in recent court filings that stopping construction now—when the ballroom is 65% complete—would be “dangerous” because it “would leave an unstable, unfinished 70-foot-tall structure on White House grounds.”
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further reading
Supreme Court Lets Trump’s Ballroom Construction Continue—For Now (Forbes)
Trump Administration Says It Doesn’t Matter If People Think White House Ballroom Is Ugly (Forbes)
Trump Asks Supreme Court To Allow White House Ballroom Construction (Forbes)
Cocktails, Bomb Shelters, Very Strong Stone: Trump Raves About Ballroom As Crews Race To Build It (Forbes)
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