Trump Asks Supreme Court To Allow White House Ballroom Construction

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to allow it to finish constructing President Donald Trump's planned $600 million White House ballroom, after multiple lower courts ruled against it, leaving it up to the 6-3 conservative court to determine the fate of one of the president's signature projects. "No bystander could plausibly prefer to view an unfinished 70-foot-tall superstructure to the finished Project," the Justice Department wrote in its filing. "Zero taxpayer dollars are needed or required," the Trump administration's Supreme Court petition states. The federal appeals court ruling held the White House cannot continue construction "without securing Congress's authorization, as the Constitution and laws require."