Preservationist group sues Trump over White House ballroom project, seeks congressional approval

A preservationist group filed a lawsuit on Friday against President Trump over his White House construction project in which the East Wing was demolished to build a large ballroom in which the plaintiff is asking a federal court to pause the project until it has congressional approval and multiple independent reviews.The suit is being filed by the privately funded group the National Trust for Historic Preservation, according to the Associated Press. The suit also seeks environmental assessments and public comments for the project. 
Trump’s plans for the ballroom are that it will be nearly twice the size of the White House itself before the East Wing’s demolition.
“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” according to the lawsuit. “And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.”
The group wants the court to rule that Trump has committed multiple violations of the Administrative Procedures Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by fast-tracking the project, while also exceeding his constitutional authority by not consulting lawmakers.
The lawsuit argues that no more work should be done on the project until administration officials “complete the required reviews — reviews that should have taken place before the Defendants demolished the East Wing, and before they began construction of the Ballroom.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment.
Trump has emphasized that the project is being funded with private money, including his own. He also bypassed the federal government’s usual building practices and historical reviews with the East Wing demolition.
The White House is expected to submit plans for the new ballroom to a federal planning commission before next year.
“Once plans are submitted, that’s really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin,” Will Scharf, who is chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, said.
He added that the review process would happen at a “normal and deliberative pace.”
The group claims that plans should have been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts, and Congress before any action was taken. The lawsuit states that the group wrote to those entities and the National Park Service in October, after the East Wing demolition began, urging a pause on the project and asking the administration to comply with federal law.
“The National Trust received no response,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit cites several federal statutes and rules about the role the planning and fine arts commissions and Congress play in U.S. government construction projects.
One of the statutes reads, “A building or structure shall not be erected on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.”
The group also notes that the range design and environmental reviews, along with congressional deliberation, would involve public input.
“This public involvement, while important in all preservation matters, is particularly critical here, where the structure at issue is perhaps the most recognizable and historically significant building in the country,” the lawsuit reads.
The group is also suing the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, and the General Services Administration, along with the heads of those federal agencies.

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