A federal judge has allowed the Trump administration’s ongoing construction of the White House East Wing to continue for now, finding that a legal challenge brought last year was not comprehensive enough to prove President Trump lacked the authority to renovate the building with private funds and without Congressional action.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the legal challenge brought by a preservationist group failed because the White House Office of the Executive Residence is not a government agency, and said that he cannot address the merits of the “novel and weighty issues” raised by the challenge without an amended challenge.
In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the U.S. sued the administration for failing to adhere to federal guidelines prior to demolition and construction. The Trust also questioned the project’s funding mechanism.
The Trust, Leon wrote, “bases its challenge on a ragtag group of theories,” adding that because the executive residence is “likely not an agency” under the Administrative Procedures Act, a federal law that governs how administrative agencies propose and issue regulations, the Trust may not challenge the construction under that law.
“Unfortunately, because both sides initially focused on the President’s constitutional authority to destruct and construct the East Wing of the White House, Plaintiff didn’t bring the necessary cause of action to test the statutory authority the President claims is the basis to do this construction project without the blessing of Congress and with private funds,” Leon wrote, adding that if the Trust amends its challenge, he will reconsider their new arguments.
President Trump has claimed to have raised the $400 million he says is necessary for construction from private donors and major corporations like Lockheed Martin, Amazon and Microsoft, all which have business before the government.
The funds were collected by a nonprofit organization, handed off to the National Park Service and then deposited into an account controlled by the president that is normally used for minor White House repairs and maintenance, according to court records.
At a hearing in January, Leon repeatedly called the financial arrangement a “Rube Goldberg,” referring to the cartoonist and inventor who made complex contraptions to perform simple tasks.
On Feb. 19, a commission that advises the federal government on architecture and arts in Washington, D.C. voted to give final approval to Mr. Trump’s overhaul of the East Wing. All of the members were appointed by the president after he fired the previous board in October.
The commission’s unanimous, fast-tracked decision came despite public comments that were “overwhelmingly in opposition” to the project, according to the commission’s secretary Thomas Luebke. Architectural experts and members of the public who weighed in on the design faulted it for being too big and for the White House short circuiting the typical approval process, Leubke said.
The National Capital Planning Commission — another oversight board stacked with the president’s allies — is expected to render its verdict on the East Wing renovation in early March.
