Judge Richard Leon blocked it Thursday night.
The DC Circuit put his order on hold Friday night.
And construction resumed before most people even knew it had stopped.
National Trust for Historic Preservation Lawsuit Has a Problem Nobody Mentioned
The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed suit in December to stop the ballroom – arguing Trump needed congressional approval before breaking ground.
Here's what they left out of the press release: Pam Bondi sits on the National Trust's board of trustees by statute.
The same Pam Bondi whose Justice Department is defending Trump against the National Trust's lawsuit.
The organization suing the president is legally required to seat his own Attorney General on its board.
Trump called them "a Radical Left Group of Lunatics."
The DC Circuit put Leon's injunction on temporary hold Friday night, letting above-ground construction continue until oral arguments on June 5.
The court was explicit that the stay was not a ruling on the merits – just enough runway to take a proper look at the national security questions Leon hadn't fully resolved.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2045539098555720104?s=20
Leon – a George W. Bush appointee who twice previously declined to block the project – had ruled in March that no law "comes close" to giving Trump authority to build without a congressional sign-off.
The appeals court said that question needed more time than a rushed emergency record could give it.
The White House Ballroom Donors Funding What No Taxpayer Dollar Touched
The ballroom costs $400 million.
Private donors are covering the above-ground construction entirely.
Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, and Coinbase are on the list.
Google's contribution alone was $22 million – money paid as a settlement for a lawsuit Trump filed over YouTube's post-January 6 ban.
Instead of fighting the president in court, they paid to build his house.
The National Trust's position is that Trump needs Congress to approve spending private donations on a renovation of the building he lives in.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2044863544110498213?s=20
Three judges in Washington disagreed – at least long enough to keep the cranes moving.
White House Renovation History Democrats Conveniently Forgot
Presidents have been rebuilding the White House since the building existed.
FDR constructed the original East Wing in 1942 – primarily to conceal a wartime bunker, the same structure Trump just replaced.
Truman gutted the entire interior from 1948 to 1952, leaving only the outer walls standing while digging a new foundation underneath.
Theodore Roosevelt demolished the Victorian-era conservatories in 1902 to build the West Wing.
Every time, the same complaints followed.
Every time, the renovations proved worth it.
The East Wing Trump demolished had been flagged for mold contamination and was overdue for replacement regardless of the ballroom project.
The Real Reason They Want to Stop White House Ballroom Construction
The National Trust isn't worried about the building.
For decades, the White House hosted foreign leaders in temporary tents on the South Lawn because the East Room – the main formal event space – seats only 200 people.
Those tents cost over a million dollars per event.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2044871219808199086?s=20
Nobody filed a lawsuit.
Nobody demanded congressional approval for canvas structures on the grass.
The moment Trump started building something permanent – 90,000 square feet with bulletproof glass, drone-proof roofing, and a classified military complex underneath – suddenly the preservation crowd found their lawyers.
That's the tell.
They don't object to the White House being used for events.
They object to Trump being the one who fixed it.
The DC Circuit gave him until June 5 to keep building – with Pam Bondi's name still on their website.
Sources:
- "Court rules construction of Trump's ballroom can proceed," Breitbart News, April 19, 2026.
- "Construction on Trump's White House ballroom can continue for now, U.S. appeals court says," CNBC, April 18, 2026.
- "Judge blocks Trump White House ballroom project for now; administration appeals," CNBC, March 31, 2026.
- "Judge: Trump can't claim that entire White House ballroom project is needed for national security," CNN Politics, April 16, 2026.
- "Board of Trustees," National Trust for Historic Preservation, savingplaces.org.
- "East Wing demolition continues history of White House renovations," Washington Examiner, October 22, 2025.
