A court ruling halting construction of a White House ballroom is a "national disgrace," President Donald Trump has said.
"This decision, made after much of the work has been done and paid for, is a National Security Threat at the highest level. It is also a National Disgrace," Trump said in a social media post on Friday, referring to an underground military bunker and other security features of the new addition.
Trump earlier said he would appeal to the US Supreme Court over a lower court's decision to stop construction on a $400 million ballroom at the White House complex.
"The decision has been stayed, and does not take effect for a period of time. We will be immediately appealing to the United States Supreme Court," Trump wrote in a social media post. "This unjust decision must be overturned by the Supreme Court in its entirety."
Trump’s reaction came after the Washington-based US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a divided 2-1 order upheld a preliminary injunction won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued last year after the administration tore down the East Wing and began building an 8,360-square-metre ballroom.
"Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help," the panel's majority wrote.
"Congress has not ceded unfettered authority to the Executive Branch to dramatically redesign, reshape, and reconstruct the White House — the People’s House — to fit a particular President’s desires."
The appeals court placed its ruling on hold for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Trump's ballroom defence
The ballroom plan, which the administration has described as necessary for large formal functions and to preserve the safety of the White House, is the grandest of several Trump efforts to reshape central Washington's landscape of government buildings and national monuments.
A judge in a separate lawsuit recently said Trump's name was illegally added to the exterior of the Kennedy Center performing arts center and ordered its removal.
In the ballroom case, Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth said during DC Circuit arguments on June 5 that the courts have no role in weighing the privately funded project and that it would have been improper to block it at any point.
Roth said the National Trust's "architectural preference" against the ballroom shouldn't take precedence over national security concerns, claiming evidence that the former East Wing left the president and others in the White House vulnerable to attack.
"They just don't want to go to Congress," countered Thaddeus Heuer, a lawyer for the preservation group.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social last month that the cost rose because "it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal" and promised "it will be magnificent, safe, and secure!"
