Trump asks Supreme Court to OK White House ballroom construction

President Donald Trump on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow construction of his White House ballroom to continue, one week after a federal appeals court ordered that the $400 million building project must come to a stop.

The Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to immediately block the lower court’s preliminary injunction on further construction at the former site of the White House’s East Wing, which the president had ripped down last year without notifying Congress.

The Aug. 7 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld an injunction issued by a federal district judge. The injunction is currently set to take effect next Friday, Aug. 21.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which brought the lawsuit, urged the Supreme Court not to let the ballroom construction go on while the Trump administration’s appeal plays out.

“The Administration’s transparent efforts to evade the rule of law, frustrate judicial review, and limit the availability of meaningful relief in the courts must stop here,” the group said in a statement Friday afternoon.

Trump has increasingly argued that building the ballroom is a matter of national security and military readiness because it will include what he describes as a “drone port” on its roof.

In Friday’s Supreme Court application, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer highlighted the building’s function as a military asset.

“This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security,” Sauer wrote.

If the appellate court’s block is allowed to take effect, it “would wrongfully install a single district judge as sole arbiter of what further construction is ‘strictly necessary’ to protect the safety of the President, his family, staff members, and visitors to the White House, including foreign dignitaries, and presidents and prime ministers of other countries,” Sauer wrote.