WASHINGTON: A US federal appeals court ordered President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday to stop construction on a $400 million ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing, dealing the Republican leader a major setback in a case testing his presidential authority.

“Each president is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House” and cannot fundamentally reshape it without congressional appro­val, the Washington-based Court of Appeals for the district of Columbia said in a 2-1 opinion.

The 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 a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-metre) ballroom without seeking authorisation from Congress.

“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 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 Supreme Court.

Trump had appealed after district judge Richard Leon, an appointee of former president George W. Bush, twice blocked above-ground construction on the site while allowing underground work to continue.

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.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2026