Supreme Court on Monday (August 31, 2026) allowed President Donald Trump to continue construction of his White House ballroom , granting him a major victory against opponents of the project. The U.S.
Mr. The court decision means construction will advance, while a lawsuit brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation will play out in lower courts — a process that could take months or years. The conservative-dominated court voted 5-4 to lift a lower order demanding construction be halted, with Chief Justice John Roberts notably joining the court’s three liberals in dissent.
Roberts earlier this month issued a temporary order to allow construction while the full court weighed the matter.
“This Court has not found standing in circumstances like these before. To the contrary, we have repeatedly held that mere offense, disagreement, or distaste does not qualify as a concrete and particularized injury,” under the US constitution, the five justices wrote in their ruling. A district court and, later, an appellate court, halted work on the ballroom while allowing construction on the military facility to continue.
Because the National Trust probably did not have the right to bring the claim in the first place, in its decision the court said that the government was likely to eventually win the ongoing lawsuit.
