The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States filed a lawsuit this morning against the Trump administration over the demolition of the East Wing and the planned White House ballroom.
“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever—not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” attorneys for the trust wrote. “And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in. President Trump’s efforts to do so should be immediately halted, and work on the Ballroom Project should be paused until the Defendants complete the required reviews—reviews that should have taken place before the Defendants demolished the East Wing, and before they began construction of the Ballroom—and secure the necessary approvals.”
The nonprofit argues that the administration was required to submit construction and environmental plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts and Congress for review before it began work, but it has yet to do so.
The Trump administration, they say, is “depriving the public of its right to be informed and its opportunity to comment on the Defendants’ proposed plans for the Ballroom Project. This public involvement, while important in all preservation matters, is particularly critical here, where the structure at issue is perhaps the most recognizable and historically significant building in the country.”
The trust would like a federal judge in Washington to block continued work on the ballroom project until the necessary federal commissions have reviewed and approved the project’s plans, an environmental review has been conducted, and Congress authorizes it.
In response to the lawsuit, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, “President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House — just like all of his predecessors did.”