A federal choose has once more ordered President Donald Trump to pause development of an enormous new ballroom on the White House, rejecting the president’s “disingenuous” bid to avoid an earlier ruling in opposition to the project by claiming that it needed to proceed for national security causes.
The ruling Thursday from senior US District Judge Richard Leon is the most recent episode in a winding authorized saga across the controversial ballroom, which the choose stated final month was being constructed unlawfully since Congress hadn’t expressly accepted it.
Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, carved out an exception so that crews might proceed engaged on a extremely refined bunker being put in beneath the proposed ballroom. But Trump had contended that the entire project was lined by that loophole for the reason that aboveground construction “advances critical national-security objectives as an integrated whole.”
Leon forcefully rejected that argument in his newest resolution, accusing the president of advancing an “incredible, if not disingenuous” studying of his earlier ruling.
“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” he wrote in the 10-page decision. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”
“National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity, and belated assertions that the above-ground ballroom is ‘inseparable’ from an array of security features are not an occasion for this Court to reweigh the equities or reconsider the preliminary injunction!” Leon wrote.
The choose reiterated that crews might proceed engaged on the bunker and will proceed with different work “necessary to ensure the safety, security, and structural integrity of the White House” and its grounds. But he made clear that absent congressional approval of the ballroom, no above-ground development might proceed besides work to cowl and safe the amenities being constructed underground.
Anticipating a possible enchantment of the ruling, Leon delayed implantation of it for one week. But he warned the White House that any above-ground work that occurs throughout that interval could should be reversed relying on how the case performs out.
“I have no desire or intention to be dragooned into the role of construction manager,” Leon wrote, including that he trusts the president to implement his order in good religion.
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