Federal judge sets new limits on Trump ballroom construction | Judge: Trump can’t claim that en…

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Judge: Trump can’t claim that entire White House ballroom project is needed for national security

A federal judge has again ordered President Donald Trump to pause construction of a massive new ballroom at the White House, rejecting the president’s “disingenuous” bid to circumvent an earlier ruling against the project by claiming that it needed to proceed for national security reasons.

The ruling Thursday from senior US District Judge Richard Leon is the latest episode in a winding legal saga around the controversial ballroom, which the judge said last month was being built unlawfully since Congress hadn’t expressly approved it.

Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, carved out an exception so that crews could continue working on a highly sophisticated bunker being installed under the proposed ballroom. But Trump had contended that the entire project was covered by that loophole since the aboveground structure “advances critical national-security objectives as an integrated whole.”

Trump’s Go-To Justification for Contentious Decisions: National Security

The administration has invoked national security in a variety of matters, including the White House ballroom and offshore wind farms, drawing rebukes from some judges.

President Trump offered a surprising justification last month for forging ahead with construction of his White House ballroom: Halting the $400 million project would pose a grave threat to national security.

“Everything is drone-proof and bulletproof,” Mr. Trump said, listing the security features of a bunker being built beneath the ballroom to protect the president in the event of an emergency.

It was hardly the first time the administration had invoked national security to justify a contentious decision. Over the past year, top officials have cited similar concerns when stripping union rights from thousands of federal workers, pausing the construction of wind farms off the East Coast, and exempting oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from protections for endangered species of whales.

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