Architect Shalom Baranes shows an elevation of the new $400 million White House ballroom to members of the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington, DC, on January 8, 2026.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday blocked construction for the time being on President Donald Trump’s much-touted new White House ballroom.
In his order, District Court Judge Richard Leon ordered Trump administration officials and executive officers to “take no action to facilitate the physical development of the ballroom planned for the former White House East Wing site.”
Leon said the order will take effect within 14 days. The delay gives President Trump time to appeal the order.
The ruling comes months after the east wing was demolished to make way for a planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom, the projected cost of $400 million to be covered by donations from corporations and other private donors.
“The President of the United States is the custodian of the White House for future generations of the First Family, but he is not the owner,” Leon said in a memorandum opinion explaining his ruling.
“President Trump argues that existing statutes authorized Congress to construct the East Wing Ballroom Project and to finance it with private funds,” the judge wrote. “The plaintiff, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, argues that the president has no such authority under current law and that a preliminary injunction is necessary to avoid irreparable harm.”
“I conclude that the National Trust is likely to succeed on the merits because there is no law that comes close to giving the president the powers he claims he has,” Leon wrote. “I must therefore approve the National Trust’s motion for an interim injunction, and the banquet hall construction project must be halted until Parliament approves its completion.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued Trump, the National Park Service and other defendants to block the ballroom project.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Leon’s order.
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