The Supreme Court Should Reject Trump’s Bid to Resume Ballroom Demolition

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Washington Litigation Group and Democracy Defenders Fund today filed a brief on behalf of the Society for the Rule of Law, a nonpartisan organization of conservative, center-right and libertarian lawyers, urging the United States Supreme Court to reject the executive branch’s application to stay a federal district court injunction that halted demolition and construction work on buildings within the White House complex.

Joining the Society as amici are numerous former Republican White House lawyers and other conservative, libertarian, and right-of-center lawyers and officials — including many who served in Republican administrations — whose commitment to the rule of law transcends ideological or political affiliations. Their brief, filed in National Park Service, et al. v. National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, argues that:

• The Constitution explicitly vests control over public property and spending in Congress, and the executive branch cannot act outside Congress’s boundaries.

• Whether a new ballroom and new national security facilities on White House grounds may or may not be necessary or wise is not for the executive to decide unilaterally without clear congressional authorization, appropriation and oversight. 

• Constitutional provisions and the laws passed by Congress must be respected even where the executive asserts national security, safety or policy factors. 

• The executive branch’s tactics in this case flout the Court’s constitutional role as a final appellate court and disregard longstanding judicial practice.

“The Constitution doesn’t give any president a blank check to bulldoze the people’s house and rebuild it to his own liking,” said Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. “Congress controls federal property and the public purse, and that’s never depended on how desperately a president wants to build something. We’re asking the Court to hold the line and let the district court’s injunction stand while this case is fully and fairly reviewed.”

“Every president has an obligation to execute the laws as passed by Congress and to serve as a faithful steward of federal property, including the White House, which belongs to all Americans, not to its temporary occupants,” said the Society for the Rule of Law. “The administration’s actions in this case raise serious constitutional questions that the Court must resolve before permitting further expenditure of public funds without authorization from Congress.”

“The government had every opportunity to make its case to the district court, and it lost on both the facts and the law,” said Joseph Mead, principal at Washington Litigation Group and counsel of record for the amici. “Now it wants this Court to short-circuit the ordinary appellate process by introducing new evidence for the first time and skipping the deference owed to lower courts. That’s not how our system of judicial review is supposed to work, and the Court should say so.”

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia previously enjoined the government from proceeding with construction of President Trump’s ballroom, which would replace a significant portion of the White House complex. The court found that the project exceeded the executive branch’s authority under the Constitution and several federal statutes. The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to stay that injunction while the appeals process proceeds.

In addition to Norm and Joe, Washington Litigation Group Principal Elizabeth Collery and Counsel Sarah Armstrong, as well as DDA’s Director of Litigation Tianna Mays and Counsel Jacob Kovacs-Goodman, and Alan Charles Raul, president of the Society for the Rule of Law, appeared on the brief. 

A copy of the brief can be found here.

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Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.

The Washington Litigation Group is a nonpartisan team of attorneys dedicated to defending individuals and institutions that have been unlawfully targeted for exercising their legal rights and to fighting against governmental overreach.

The Society for the Rule of Law is a community of attorneys, students, scholars, and public-spirited citizens dedicated to defending the Constitution and the Rule of Law through legal advocacy, public education, and civic engagement.

For media inquiries, contact press@democracydefenders.org.