The Trump administration and a private nonprofit have completed their legal filings before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding a lower-court order that halted construction of a $400 million White House ballroom. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is challenging the project, filed its response on Tuesday, asking the court to maintain an injunction that prevents above-ground work from proceeding. The administration had previously requested that the court pause that ruling to allow the project to continue.
The dispute involves the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation over a construction project on the White House grounds. A lower-court judge issued an order halting the above-ground portion of the project while the legal challenge remains ongoing. According to the Trump administration, that halt was scheduled to take effect on August 21 unless the Supreme Court intervened.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in a final brief that finishing the project is a "national security imperative" and that delays present "unacceptable risk" to the safety of the president, staff, and family. Conversely, the National Trust for Historic Preservation requested the court leave the injunction in place to protect historic interests. The matter is now fully briefed, meaning the justices can issue a decision at any time.
Lobstermen and border travelers are also awaiting Supreme Court action on separate Fourth Amendment cases. For federally permitted lobstermen in Maine, a pending petition challenges a rule requiring electronic tracking devices that record vessel location once per minute, even during personal trips. If the court takes the case, it could redefine how the government monitors private property in regulated industries. For international travelers, a separate petition by immigration lawyer George Anibowei seeks to end warrantless cellphone searches at the border, a practice he reports experiencing five times in ten years.
These cases could set new precedents for the "emergency docket," a process for rapid court intervention, and the "long conference" scheduled for September 28. During this conference, the justices will decide which of many pending petitions, including a Florida Republican challenge to the 2020 Census statistical methods, will be added to the court's upcoming term. The court typically grants review to between five and 15 petitions from this specific meeting. Decisions on the emergency applications regarding the ballroom and mail-in voting rules are expected imminently, while the lobstering and census petitions await the late September conference.