White House Ballroom

A federal appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration must stop construction of the $400 million White House ballroom because Congress has not approved the project. Trump blasted the decision Friday as “unjust” while vowing to appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ruled that Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom where the East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition. The panel upheld an April order from a lower court judge for aboveground work on the project to be halted.

President Donald Trump's administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the White House to continue construction on its $400 million ballroom project while it appeals a lower court’s order to halt the work. Chief Justice John Roberts has set a deadline of Tuesday for a response by plaintiffs challenging the ballroom project. Trump’s solicitor general on Friday petitioned the high court to suspend last week's decision by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The divided panel ruled last week the Republican president must stop the White House ballroom’s construction because Congress has not approved the project.