A United States federal appeals court has ordered the Donald Trump-led administration to halt construction of the US president’s $400m White House ballroom, in a fresh blow to the controversial project.
Donald Trump, who demolished the historic East Wing of the White House last year to make way for the planned ballroom, has repeatedly touted it as “a gift” to the American people.
But in a major setback in a case testing his presidential authority, the Washington-based US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction in a divided 2-1 ruling on Friday.
The appeals court put its ruling on hold for two weeks, allowing the administration to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Explaining their majority decision, Judges Patricia Millett and Bradley Garcia wrote: “Each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House and its Executive Residence.”
The judges also said it was for Congress to determine whether the ballroom could ultimately be built.
“Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” they wrote.
“This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy,” the judges added.
“This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom.
“What it does mean is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require.”
A third judge on the panel, Neomi Rao, who was appointed by Trump, dissented and sided with the president’s assertion that the ballroom project was within his authority.
The injunction was won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued last year after the Trump administration tore down the East Wing and began building a 90,000 sq ft (8,360 sq metre) ballroom without seeking authorization from Congress.
The latest decision supports an earlier ruling issued by a US federal judge in April, which limited construction to the underground part of the project deemed necessary on national security grounds while blocking the hospitality facility envisioned by Trump for entertaining guests.
At the time, Trump lambasted that decision by Judge Richard Leon, who was appointed to the bench during George W. Bush’s presidency, describing him as a “Trump Hating” judge.
Trump also alleged that Leon had “gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn’t get built.”