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\n The latest rebuke came last week, when an appeals court in Washington, DC, said the president lacked any authority to unilaterally pursue the planned ballroom and ordered him to stop work at the site of the former East Wing until lawmakers gave their blessing. But the court paused implementation of its decision for 14 days to give Trump time to appeal to the justices.\n <\/p>\n
\n US Solicitor General John Sauer argued in the filing with the Supreme Court that the East Wing construction was \u201cabsolutely required \u201c for the president\u2019s safety, noting the attempts that have been made on Trump\u2019s life in recent years.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe President of the United States of America is not a tenant, but rather the sole, elected head of the Executive Branch, and Congress has authorized him to renovate, secure, and protect the White House and its grounds, as other Presidents have been allowed to do, without exception,\u201d Sauer wrote. \u201cThe injunction is \u2018judicial overreach beyond the proper province of the federal courts.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The request is the first time any of Trump\u2019s pet projects has landed before the Supreme Court. In recent months, lower courts sifting through a litany of cases challenging his plans to remake Washington have looked skeptically at his arguments defending his approach or issued rulings frustrating his pursuits.\n <\/p>\n
\n In the ballroom case, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals agreed on August 7 with a federal judge\u2019s ruling directing Trump to halt work on the above-ground portions of the ballroom. Both rulings permitted construction of a highly sophisticated bunker under the ballroom to continue.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,\u201d the DC Circuit said in its 2-1 ruling.\n <\/p>\n
\n The case was brought last year by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the nation\u2019s top historic preservation group.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe National Trust has shown, compellingly, that Congress has not ceded unfettered authority to the Executive Branch to dramatically redesign, reshape, and reconstruct the White House \u2013 the People\u2019s House \u2013 to fit a particular President\u2019s desires,\u201d the appeals court concluded.\n <\/p>\n
\n The preservation group has until noon on Tuesday to respond to Trump\u2019s petition at the high court.\n <\/p>\n
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\n The Trump administration argued Friday that the carveout the lower courts made for continued construction of the security bunker was not enough, and said the order \u201cthreatens the security and safety of the President.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe entire ballroom structure is designed to shield the military installation beneath it,\u201d Sauer wrote, \u201cHalting the Project will stall this vital construction, making this President \u2014 the subject of recurrent assassination attempts \u2014 much less safe, and risking future Presidents\u2019 safety.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Above-grade construction on the ballroom began in the spring and has made considerable progress. Images posted by Trump in early August reveal multiple levels of concrete support columns and metal rebar amid a significant amount of construction equipment, including a tower crane.\n <\/p>\n
\n The president has been personally involved in ballroom details, from floor plans to marble selection. The sprawling ballroom project has an estimated size of approximately 89,000 square feet, according to lead architect Shalom Baranes. By contrast, the primary White House structure, the Executive Mansion, is just 55,000 square feet.\n <\/p>\n
\n Trump has maintained that the project isn\u2019t subject to any oversight and that he should be able to continue with it without any serious scrutiny.\n <\/p>\n
\n The administration said Friday that \u201cCongress gave the President the power to make \u201calteration[s]\u201d and \u201cimprovement[s]\u201d to the White House \u201cas the President may determine.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Trump has said it will be finished in the summer of 2028, an expedited timeline for completion months before he leaves office.\n <\/p>\n
\n His administration argued to the Supreme Court that freezing the construction at this stage \u201cwould create a veritable obstacle course for the Secret Service, further imperiling safety.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe partially finished, 70-foot concrete-and-steel superstructure \u2018cannot be largely left alone at this point\u2019 without tremendous setbacks that will fundamentally compromise the integrity of everything currently built there,\u2019 not to mention the \u2018major safety risk\u2019 from leaving it with inadequate\u2019 stability or strength to handle wind and heavy loads on [its] own,\u201d Sauer said.\n <\/p>\n
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\u2018Magnificent Corinthian columns\u2019 and gold seals<\/p>\n
\n New renderings of the ballroom provided to the Supreme Court include new details, including the addition of at least two large presidential seals in gold.\n <\/p>\n
\n A source familiar with the approval process of historical buildings in DC says that this should necessitate the project going before and getting approval from the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commissions, the federal agencies that oversee the planning of federal spaces in DC.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe White House\u2019s exterior has long embodied a restrained aesthetic of republican simplicity, not opulent display,\u201d the source said, \u201cThe addition of the large, gaudy gold seals clashes with that tradition.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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