Donald Trump appears to be building against a court’s schedule. His term ends at noon on January 20, 2029. One may well watch the construction and wonder: which deadline does he think is real?
The president now calls his $400 million ballroom a “military/ballroom complex.”
On Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts allowed construction of the White House ballroom to continue. A lower court order had required the work to stop that night. Roberts signed the order alone.
Congress appropriates two and a half million dollars a year for repairs and alterations to the Executive Residence. The administration called a $400 million ballroom an alteration under that authority. Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a George W. Bush appointee, called this a “brazen interpretation of the laws of vocabulary.”
On August 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the injunction two to one.
The judge had, however, allowed below-ground security work to continue. The administration then renamed the entire project. The Solicitor General now calls it an “integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space.”
The government told the Supreme Court the complex is sixty-five percent complete with crews working 20-hour days, seven days per week.
Donald Trump appears to be building against a court’s schedule. His term ends at noon on January 20, 2029. One may well watch the construction and wonder: which deadline does he think is real?
Notes To My Future Self 