US court blocks Trump from creating a banquet hall in the White House - Sarmad

A U.S. federal appeals court ordered the administration of President Donald Trump to halt construction of a $400 million event hall at the site of the former East Wing of the White House.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, by a two-to-one vote, upheld a preliminary injunction granted in favor of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which filed the lawsuit after the administration demolished the East Wing last year and began building a new event hall without congressional approval, according to Reuters.

In its ruling, the court stated that “every president is a temporary occupant of the White House, not its owner,” emphasizing that the president lacks the authority to fundamentally redesign or reshape the White House without congressional authorization.

The court added that the decision to create a large event hall “is a matter for Congress alone, not something the executive branch can unilaterally decide,” noting that Congress “has not granted the executive branch absolute authority to redesign, reshape, or rebuild the White House in accordance with the wishes of a particular president.”

The court affirmed that the White House is “owned by the American people,” and that the president “does not possess, nor claim to possess, constitutional authority to dispose of this property, which was designed and is managed to serve all current and future presidents, and to benefit the American people.”

The Trump administration is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case likely to serve as a significant test of the constitutional limits of presidential power regarding major alterations to historic federal buildings.