US supreme court allows Trump to keep building $400m White House ballroom

Justices’ 5-4 ruling permits Trump administration appeal to block lower court order halting above-ground work A divided US supreme court has permitted Donald Trump to continue building his controversial $400m White House ballroom despite legal challenges, raising the likelihood it will be completed. In a 5-4 ruling, the justices permitted the Trump administration’s request to ⁠block a lower court order that had halted above-ground construction of the project while a lawsuit by a historic preservation group seeks to block it. The US president, who demolished the historic East Wing of the White House last year to make way for planned ballroom, has repeatedly touted it as “a gift” to the US people. Monday’s decision from the supreme court comes after the court’s conservative chief justice, John Roberts, issued a temporary order that had enabled work to continue. However, Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in dissenting from the majority’s decision and wrote that the construction was “likely unlawful”. The court’s decision may allow Trump to bring to fruition a project that is at the center of his ambition to remake the US capital in his image. Since taking office, he ha