What will SCOTUS do—and will they interrupt their summer vacation to do it? Well, it should only need be a quick break from the beach, or whatever megadonor’s mansion they’re holed up at: The court should of course decline to hear Trump’s over-the-top emergency plea for a ballroom-meets-military complex. The justices should let lower court rulings stand—that congressional approval is needed before ballroom construction can continue.

But they won’t. Not this Court, not with three Trump-appointed judges, and Alito and Thomas making five, at bare minimum. They will likely contort themselves to allow construction to continue, buying the administration’s argument that the lavish venue is actually protective cover for a military bunker below (and a drone platform above)—or at least pretending to buy it.

And like Frank Sinatra singing about love and marriage, you can’t have one without the other.

Or they could extend the deadline for congressional approval. The latest lower court ruling gives Trump until August 21, this Friday, to secure lawmakers’ blessing. But that’s not happening. Congress is back home on recess, and even if they were in town, nobody is keen on the ballroom, not even Republicans.

Trump is seeking permission from SCOTUS to continue construction while he appeals that ruling. He’s gambling that he can get it done before he’s told he can’t.........

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