Supreme Court allows White House ballroom construction to continue

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed construction of President Donald Trump's proposed White House ballroom to continue, ruling in a 5-4 decision that the group challenging the project likely lacks the legal standing to sue. The unsigned opinion from the court's conservative majority does not settle the underlying question of whether the project is lawful, but it effectively clears the way for work to proceed while litigation continues in lower courts.

The decision lifts a lower court order that had halted most aboveground construction. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's three liberal justices in dissent, writing that the construction is "likely unlawful" because Congress has not authorized it. The majority opinion focused solely on the threshold issue of standing, concluding that the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the nonprofit that filed the lawsuit, had not demonstrated the concrete injury required to bring the case.

The trust's challenge is based in part on a declaration from one of its members, Washington resident Alison Hoagland, who argued the completed ballroom would harm her "aesthetic, cultural, and historical interests." The majority rejected...