Court Blocks Trump Ballroom Construction

It probably hasn’t really sunk in, if you don’t live in Washington D.C., but at the moment, the East Wing of the White House is a bit of an eyesore. Massive construction fences surround piles of rubble and construction equipment where workers noisily lay the foundations of the famous new ballroom. 

There are practical reasons to temporarily make the view one gets looking down Pennsylvania Ave that of massive construction fences. The president needs a place to host people, and he doesn’t have a good one. But if we’re being honest, it’s about aesthetics.

This is, after all, the “golden age.” The White House must reflect the vibe. To do that, one needs a ballroom — preferably one decked out in gold. Unfortunately, the courts aren’t interested in making it easy to get that way. 

This week, Judge Richard J. Leon issued a preliminary injunction blocking construction on the ballroom until Congress gets the chance to weigh in. Sure, Trump is funding the construction via his own coffers and those of donors (so he didn’t need to ask Congress for the funds), but Leon argues that the White House is national property; therefore congressional red tape must abound.

Trump, of course, had planned to go through a little red tape; after all, the National Capital Planning Commission was supposed to put the final plans to a vote on Thursday. But having to take the whole project to Congress where lawmakers will get to deliberate on tiny details like the faux northern windows or the precise number of people who can fit in the building means that the project could very well be stuck in limbo for at least the remainder of this presidency —  if not until the Second Coming of Christ. (READ MORE: Netanyahu Applauds Trump on Iran)

To his credit, Judge Leon (a George W. Bush appointee) wasn’t exactly a pushover on the subject. He had denied both a motion for a temporary restraining order back in December as well as the National Trust’s initial request for a preliminary injunction in February. He only issued the injunction when the National Trust managed to successfully argue that every previous major renovation to the space had to undergo congressional approval. For all his feet-dragging, Leon seems quite adamant about the necessity of the injunction — the 35-page opinion is peppered in exclamation marks. 

This isn’t the result of that article at the New York Times complaining that the proposed building is “too tall” or pointing out that the “grand staircase doesn’t” actually “lead to ballroom.” Nor is it because Leon shared the National Trust’s concern that the view down Pennsylvania Ave. will be permanently ruined. Really, it’s just that Leon, being the judge that he is, thinks that things should be done according to precedent, and he thinks that precedent indicates that Congress ought to be involved.

“Unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!” he wrote. Once such blessing has occurred, Leon assured us, “The National Trust’s interests in a constitutional and lawful process will be vindicated. And the American people will benefit from the branches of government exercising their constitutionally prescribed rules. Not a bad outcome, that!” 

Trump has, of course, promised to appeal the decision. At the moment, the East Wing has been replaced by a gaping hole, something that the administration has argued is a security hazard (although, as Leon pointed out, the hazard is a problem of Trump’s own making; he did allow for any construction needed to remedy the security issue). Furthermore, the administration argues that, unlike previous renovations that required taxpayer funds, the ballroom is privately funded. Leon claims that the private funding has nothing to do with anything. Rather, the Enclave Clause of the U.S. Constitution (which gives Congress authority over D.C. and all federally purchased land) means that Congress must approve any changes being made.

So the White House will likely have to go to Congress to ask for permission to put up the ballroom. It’s irritating and impractical, yes. But the administration should get over it and instead push Republican leadership to get approval through Congress quickly. 

We all know doing things quickly isn’t a Republican strong suit — after all, they do enjoy hamstringing themselves via petty arguments for the sake of national amusement and frustration— but the ballroom is, at this point, something of a necessity. Not only should the eyesore of a construction zone that was once the East Wing get fixed, but the president should be able to host foreign dignitaries in a place slightly more grand than temporary tents on a lawn.

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