Judge again halts construction of Trump's White House ballroom, but allows work on underground bunker to proceed

Key Points:

• U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued a new order halting construction of President Trump's $400 million White House ballroom, rejecting the administration's claim that the entire project qualifies as necessary for national security.
• Leon clarified that while underground security facilities and necessary above-ground structures to protect them may proceed, the full 90,000-square-foot ballroom cannot be built without congressional approval.
• The judge emphasized that national security does not provide a "blank check" to bypass legal restrictions and criticized the administration's argument as unreasonable and disingenuous.
• The order will take effect in seven days, allowing the government time to appeal, and follows a previous injunction issued after the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to block the project.
• The administration had argued the ballroom was integral to protecting the bunker beneath it, but the preservation group called this a "brazen contortion" of previous claims that underground facilities were separate from the ballroom.