Judge halts Trump’s White House ballroom

What happened

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Tuesday ordered President Donald Trump to stop construction on his massive White House ballroom “unless and until Congress blesses this project.” The U.S. president “is the steward of the White House,” wrote Leon, a George W. Bush appointee. “He is not, however, the owner!”

Who said what

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued Trump in December, is likely to succeed in its challenge because “no statute comes close to giving the president the authority he claims” to radically transform the White House, Leon said in his order. Trump demolished the East Wing last October to build the ballroom.

Leon’s decision, “punctuated by 19 exclamation points,” is the “first meaningful setback to the president’s increasingly audacious efforts to redesign the White House and Washington,” The New York Times said. The $400 million, 89,000-square-foot ballroom is a “passion project” for Trump, Politico said. He “fumed at the ruling,” The Associated Press said, calling Leon “totally wrong” about the need for congressional approval.

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What next?

Leon paused his decision for 14 days so the White House could appeal, but warned that “any above-ground construction” in that period “is at risk of being taken down depending on the outcome of this case.”