The panel, sitting 2-1, upheld an April ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon that required work to stop until the administration obtains explicit approval from Congress, The Washington Post reported.
The lawsuit was filed last year by the National Trust for Historic Preservation after the administration demolished the East Wing of the White House, built in 1902, and began work on the ballroom without congressional authorization, The Guardian reported.
The appeals court’s order will not take effect for two weeks, giving the White House time to seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. President Donald Trump, for whom the palatial ballroom project has become a bit of an obsession, said on Truth Social he would “immediately” appeal the “horrible” decision.
“Every president is a temporary tenant, not the owner of the White House and its residence,” two judges on the panel wrote in explaining the majority opinion, saying Congress ultimately must decide whether the ballroom can be built. The third judge dissented, siding with the administration’s view that the project falls within presidential authority.
The fate of the project will ultimately be decided by the
U.S. Supreme Court at a later date.