Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary order allowing the Trump administration to move forward with its ballroom construction.
“IT IS ORDERED that the preliminary injunction entered on April 16, 2026, by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, case No. 1:25-cv-4316, is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court,” the order states.
Roberts’ decision comes as the Trump administration entered an emergency application for an immediate stay in U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s previous order pausing the construction.
“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,” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the filing. Sauer goes on to detail the numerous threats President Trump has faced, arguing that the “updated East Wing complex is absolutely required and should not be enjoined.”
He went on to declare that the district court’s ruling blocking the ballroom’s construction “wrongly viewed the President as a mere ‘tenant’ of the White House … with the district judge as his de facto landlord.” Sauer added, “The President of the United States of America is not a tenant, but rather the sole, elected head of the Executive Branch, and Congress has authorized him to renovate, secure, and protect the White House and its grounds, as other Presidents have been allowed to do, without exception.”
