Executive Power

Trump's White House Ballroom Is a Monument to His Lawlessness

By unilaterally razing and replacing the East Wing, the president again shows his disregard for the rule of law and the separation of powers.

Jacob Sullum | 9.2.2026 12:01 AM

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(Photo: Okea/Alexkalina/Milosluz/Cammeraydave/Dreamstime | Illustration: Fatima Ruiz/Midjourney)

After President Theodore Roosevelt began building the East Wing of the White House in 1902, he thanked Congress for approving the project and appropriating the necessary funds. When President Donald Trump demolished the East Wing last fall, by contrast, he acted without permission from Congress, which the Constitution empowers to control federal property.

That difference is unlikely to matter in practice, thanks to a stay the Supreme Court issued on Monday, which allows Trump to continue work on the huge ballroom he is building on the site of the East Wing. But Trump's insistence on acting unilaterally will make his vanity project a monument to his disregard for the rule of law and the separation of powers.

In an unsigned opinion joined by five justices, the Supreme Court blocked a preliminary injunction against continued construction of the........

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