U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court in Washington barred him from continuing construction of a massive ballroom at the White House.
Calling the ruling “politically motivated,” Trump wrote on his social media platform that he would “immediately appeal to the Supreme Court.”
“This unfair decision must be overturned in its entirety by the Supreme Court. The military and the Secret Service consider the decision (by the federal appeals court) to be terrible, politically motivated, and unlawful,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Ballroom Deemed Unlawful
Earlier, the federal appeals court ruled that Trump is proceeding unlawfully with the construction of the new large ballroom at the White House.
The decision was issued by a 2–1 vote of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which sided with the country’s largest historic preservation organization, which had challenged the project.
In its ruling, the court emphasized that every U.S. president is “a temporary occupant, not the owner,” of the White House and the presidential residence.
“Every president is a temporary occupant, not the owner, of the White House and the presidential residence. The president does not possess—nor does he claim to possess—a constitutionally protected property interest in the White House, which was designed and maintained for the use of all presidents, present and future, as well as for the American people,” the ruling states, according to CNN.
According to the court, the National Trust for Historic Preservation presented convincing evidence that Congress has not granted the executive branch unrestricted authority to “redesign, remodel, and radically reconstruct the White House—the People’s House—to suit the preferences of a particular president.”
Ruling Temporarily Suspended
The decision will not take effect immediately.
The appeals court stayed its ruling for two weeks, giving Trump time to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.
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