The construction of U.S.President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom continues in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The Justice Department is fighting court battles on many fronts — including defending President Donald Trump's ongoing construction of a ballroom where the White House's East Wing once stood. ABC News reported that in an overnight filing, the DOJ offered new justification for Trump's free rein as contractor-in-chief: "national security."
"Even before a federal judge has decided whether he'll halt construction of the White House ballroom, the Trump administration has preemptively asked the judge to stay any injunction he might issue, warning that the project is 'imperative for reasons of national security,'" ABC News reported.
Judge Richard Leon last month questioned "signaled deep skepticism of the Trump administration's argument that the president has the legal authority to undertake the East Wing renovations and to fund them with private donations," according to ABC News.
"The Justice Department’s filing restates many of the arguments its lawyer made before Leon last month, including the administration’s view that it would be 'unworkable' to allow security-related portions of the project to continue while work on the ballroom has been stopped," ABC News reported.
"[A]s the Secret Service attested, halting construction would imperil the President and others who live and work in the White House," the DOJ said in its argument. The Secret Service operations consider an open construction site "in and of itself, a hazard."
However, the open construction site will exist for years during the building process regardless of whether the ballroom construction is paused.
Typically, a government operation like this would have involved considerable planning so alternative facilities could be put in place for national security purposes, and to protect the president and top officials.
The courts have never dealt with something like this before, ABC News reported. Questions stemming from Trump's ballroom including whether the "1912 statute [that] prohibits the construction of federal buildings absent congressional authorization applies to the president."
The DOJ assumes that the judge will rule on an injunction, so they are preemptively asking for a stay during the appeal process.