President Donald Trump’s ambitions of building a luxury ballroom with an underground military complex beneath it is going forward. On Friday, the US Supreme Court gave the green light for construction of the White House ballroom to continue. The stay was issued by Chief Justice John Roberts and will remain until further action from the court.
“The Military/Ballroom Complex being built on the hallowed grounds of the White House, which is so vital for National Security, will be THE GREATEST OF ITS KIND!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is something that Presidents have wanted for 150 years, and that the Military has been seeking for the last 100 years. Their wish will soon be fulfilled!”
The $400 million project has sparked many debates. In December 2025, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit against Trump, arguing that the construction violated the National Capital Planning Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. “We are aware of the administrative stay. To be clear, this is not a final decision on the merits of the government’s stay application, and we await further action,” a spokesperson told ARTnews.
In a statement posted on the National Trust’s website on August 18, National Trust president and chief executive Brent Leggs wrote that the Trump administration had made “two audacious claims” in its filing to the Supreme Court: “in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to greenlight continued aboveground construction of the White House Ballroom. “First, that no court in the land has the authority to stop them. And second, that because they are using the same indestructible concrete used in nuclear power plants, it would be impossible to remove the Ballroom even if ordered to do so. They are working around the clock in an attempt to outrace judicial review.”
Leggs added that the Trump administration has “no unilateral legal authority—constitutional, statutory, or otherwise—to build a Ballroom on the site of the now-demolished East Wing, unless and until Congress expressly approves” and that each court that has reviewed the case has agreed with the National Trust.
According to a CBS News report, Joshua Fisher, director for White House Management and Administration, is managing the project and already has a 250-person crew on the grounds working 20 hours per day, seven days a week. The project is borrowing some design details from the Supreme Court building such as its Corinthian columns and will also feature Indiana limestone that has been shipped to Italy to be carved “by some of the greatest artists anywhere in the world,” said Fisher.
