Chief Justice Roberts Just Let the White House Ballroom Keep Going And Dems Are Almost Out of Options

The National Trust’s CEO Brent Leggs complained that the administration made “two audacious claims” to the Supreme Court: first, that no court has the authority to stop them, and second, that the concrete is so permanent that removal would be impossible even if ordered. He accused them of “working around the clock in an attempt to outrace judicial review.”

Yes. Correct on both counts. That’s the plan. And it’s working. The underlying legal dispute — whether the president needs congressional authorization to renovate, expand, or improve the White House using privately donated funds — is a question that previous administrations answered through practice rather than litigation. Theodore Roosevelt built the West Wing without asking Congress. Harry Truman added the Truman Balcony without asking Congress. The FDR East Wing that was demolished to start this project was itself built without specific congressional authorization.

The D.C. Circuit’s two Obama-Biden appointed judges decided to treat a presidential renovation decision as an unconstitutional unilateral action. Roberts’ order suggests the full Supreme Court may have different views — or at minimum that the question is significant enough to warrant keeping the project alive while it gets resolved.