The Trump administration told a federal court it should reject a nonprofit organization’s attempt to halt construction of the planned White House ballroom, arguing in part that just because the addition to the executive mansion is currently an “eyesore” does not mean the organization has a valid reason to sue.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last month, seeking to halt demolition of the East Wing and construction on the ballroom, arguing the White House failed to follow proper protocols before beginning work on the project. The Justice Department, in a filing late Thursday, urged a federal judge to toss the lawsuit, arguing the group does not have legal standing to sue, among other problems.
“The Trust’s charge is to preserve and administer historic sites that are donated to its care, but the White House is plainly not among them,” the DOJ’s filing reads.
The Trump administration’s filing to the court further argued that the declaration of one of the organization’s members claiming an “aesthetic” injury because of the construction is not relevant to the group’s mission or enough of a claim to be able to sue in federal court.
“As the D.C. Circuit has made clear, aesthetic harm is sufficient only if a plaintiff establishes significant personal use of the property; mere fear about intermittent exposure to an ‘eyesore’ is only a generalized grievance,” the filing reads. “And, as a factual matter, the East Wing was barely visible from public spaces and will remain so, further reducing any genuine aesthetic harm.”
“Simply put, the East Wing project is none of the National Trust’s business,” the brief continues.
Much of the criticism over the proposed White House ballroom from Democrats and left-wing groups has stemmed from concerns over how the new structure will look compared with the rest of the executive mansion. In a presentation to the National Capital Planning Commission earlier this month, White House officials proposed giving a one-story addition to the West Wing to create more symmetry with the new East Wing structure.
In the Thursday filing, the Trump administration continued to downplay the impact of the new structure on the overall look of the White House, arguing that “the East Wing has never been clearly visible from the south side (or other public areas), and the new East Wing will not materially change that fact.”
“By design, the public view of the White House is drawn to the Executive Mansion, not the West or East Wing,” the brief reads. “From the south, pedestrians on the Ellipse and commuters on Constitution Avenue can see President Monroe’s curved South Portico and the Truman balcony. But the East and West Wings are almost entirely obstructed by gently sloping hillocks that frame the central building.”
SUPREME COURT STILL TRUSTED TO MAKE THE RIGHT RULING DESPITE CONTENTIOUS CASES, POLL SHOWS
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s emergency request for an immediate halt on construction of the new ballroom last month but warned the Trump administration that if anything is built underground that could affect what can be built above ground, it “should be prepared to take it down depending on the Court’s resolution of the merits of this case.”
Leon has ordered that the organization may file a reply to the Trump administration’s Thursday filing by Tuesday, with a hearing in a federal courtroom scheduled for Jan. 22.