The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and federal agencies on Dec. 12 over the ballroom construction project at the White House.
Construction on the project, which involves demolishing part of the executive mansion and building a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, began in September.
The project is expected to cost about $300 million, all of which is expected to be funded by private donors, including Trump.
The Trump administration released a list of the private donors in October.
The legal complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks a declaration that the ongoing project violates several federal statutes.
The National Trust is also asking for an injunction to halt work on the project “until the necessary federal commissions have reviewed and approved the project’s plans; adequate environmental review has been conducted; and Congress has authorized the Ballroom’s construction,” according to the complaint.
The National Trust describes itself in the complaint as a private, charitable, educational nonprofit corporation that Congress chartered in 1949. Its purpose is “to further the historic preservation policy of the United States and to promote the public’s awareness of and ability to comment on any activity that might damage or destroy our nation’s architectural heritage.” The trust has filed preservation lawsuits against several presidential administrations, the complaint said.
As Matthew Vadum details below via The Epoch Times, the lawsuit lists several federal agencies and those who head them as defendants.
The defendants are: the National Park Service, and its acting director, Jessica Bowron; John Stanwich, superintendent of the White House and President’s Park; Department of the Interior, and its secretary, Douglas Burnum; General Services Administration, and its acting administrator, Michael Rigas; and Trump.
The complaint said the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make room for the ballroom facility began in late October without congressional approval or approval from federal commissions responsible for development oversight in the nation’s capital.
The federal government did not carry out required environmental studies, nor did it give the public an opportunity for comment, the complaint said.
“Within days, the East Wing and its colonnade—a version of which was first built on the site during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson—were completely destroyed.” Last week a large construction crane was erected on White House grounds and Trump has said that work on the project was “audible all night,” the complaint said.
“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever—not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else. And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.”
The Trump administration has maintained the ballroom project is lawful.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said that “President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House—just like all of his predecessors did.”
On its website on Oct. 21, the White House listed structural changes that 13 presidents, including Trump, have made to the White House grounds since 1902.
The complaint said it is not unusual even for minor structures planned for the White House grounds to be subjected to extensive review. For example, in 2016, the National Park Service submitted plans to the National Capital Planning Commission for a new perimeter fence around the White House. During Trump’s first term in 2019, the National Park Service filed plans with the commission about a proposal to replace a small building on the grounds with a new tennis pavilion.
The ballroom project violates several federal statutes, including the Administrative Procedure Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, the complaint argues.
The Administrative Procedure Act is a federal statute enacted in 1946 that governs administrative law procedures for federal executive departments and independent agencies. The late Sen. Pat McCarran (D-Nev.) said the law was “a bill of rights for the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose affairs are controlled or regulated” in one way or another by agencies of the federal government.
The National Environmental Policy Act regulates federal agencies’ assessments of the potential environmental impacts of projects. The statute requires federal agencies to look at the “reasonably foreseeable” impact of major decisions.
The complaint also alleges that the ballroom project violates the separation of powers and the U.S. Constitution’s property clause, which gives Congress authority over federal property.
The separation of powers is a constitutional doctrine that divides the government into three branches to prevent any single branch from accumulating too much power.
The property clause reads in part: “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.”
The Department of Justice, which represents federal officials in court, did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
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