2026年1月22日，美国东部时间下午5:32 / 《华盛顿邮报》
联邦法官理查德·利昂（Richard Leon）重点关注特朗普政府是否通过私人捐赠为这个耗资4亿美元的项目提供资金，从而规避了国会的监督。
2025年10月15日，在白宫东厅为新白宫宴会厅举行的筹款晚宴上，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普举起一个拱门模型发表讲话。（德米特里厄斯·弗里曼/《华盛顿邮报》）
作者：丹·戴蒙德（Dan Diamond）与乔纳森·爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）
戴蒙德和爱德华兹长期报道白宫宴会厅项目。可在Signal平台上安全联系他们：dan_diamond.01 和 jle.11
周四，一名联邦法官质疑特朗普政府是否在法律上有权建造唐纳德·特朗普总统计划中的白宫宴会厅，要求司法部律师引用相关法律条文以证明其合法性。
“你认为总统有权拆除东翼并在此处建造新建筑吗？”乔治·W·布什总统任命的理查德·利昂法官问道。历史保护主义者于12月起诉特朗普政府，要求在项目接受审查前暂停施工。
利昂批评特朗普政府通过私人捐赠筹集资金建造这个计划耗资4亿美元的宴会厅，以此绕过国会监督，称政府所谓的“依靠内政部授权”的论点是“一个复杂的、多步骤的解决方案（Rube Goldberg contraption）”。
利昂还多次要求司法部律师解释，特朗普为何有权快速拆除东翼侧楼并建造计划中的9万平方英尺宴会厅。他嘲笑政府将该项目与1975年杰拉尔德·福特总统任内由私人捐赠建造的游泳池相提并论。
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“你怎么能把这和拆除东翼并重建新东翼相提并论？”利昂说，“得了吧，严肃点。”
利昂表示，他不打算在1月做出裁决，但可能在2月发布判决。白宫表示计划在4月开始宴会厅的地面以上施工。
利昂称，无论他如何裁决，他预计此案都将上诉至哥伦比亚特区联邦上诉法院，甚至最高法院。
由国会授权负责保护历史建筑的非营利组织“国家历史保护信托基金”于12月起诉特朗普政府，称白宫在拆除东翼前既未进行法律要求的审查，也未获得国会授权。
“总统是白宫的临时居住者，而非所有者，”代表国家历史保护信托基金的 Foley Hoag律师塔德·休尔（Tad Heuer）呼吁暂停施工。
“他是管理者，”利昂回应道。
司法部律师则辩称，国会已通过拨款数百万美元用于白宫校园改造，并允许内政部为国家公园募集捐赠，从而授权白宫进行相关变更。利昂指出，国会授权范围狭窄，仅限于白宫维护等事项。
休尔同意利昂的观点，即国会每年批准数百万美元用于更新HVAC系统或进行小修小补，并不等同于同意建造耗资4亿美元的宴会厅这类项目。
“国会不会在小洞里藏大象，”他告诉法官。
司法部律师雅各布·罗斯（Yaakov Roth）向利昂辩称，出于国家安全考虑，施工不能停止。
“不能这样分割问题，”罗斯说。
听证会有白宫高级官员约书亚·费希尔（Joshua Fisher）和其他政府官员出席，就在数小时前，特朗普亲自挑选的艺术委员会成员刚刚开会讨论该宴会厅计划。该委员会新领导人对宴会厅的规模和设计提出了几个问题，但表示支持这一有争议的项目。
“这对总统和国家都很重要，我们都清楚，”新当选的艺术委员会主席罗德尼·米姆斯·库克二世（Rodney Mims Cook Jr.）表示。他补充说，创建一个永久的大型活动空间是必要的，“我认为这是我们的职责……（要）完成总统要求我们做的事。”
艺术委员会是负责审查该项目设计、对城市历史景观的影响以及其他城市规划方面的两个联邦机构之一。白宫表示希望在未来两个月内获得这两个机构的批准，这比其他大型项目通常需要的数年时间要快得多。
在特朗普罢免拜登政府任命的成员后，艺术委员会和另一机构国家首都规划委员会现在均由特朗普任命的成员领导。艺术委员会的新成员包括詹姆斯·麦克克里里二世（James McCrery II），他曾担任特朗普第一次任内计划的白宫宴会厅首席建筑师，以及库克——他是一名开发商和设计师，曾在特朗普第一次任内担任该委员会成员，后被拜登总统罢免。
白宫宴会厅项目首席建筑师沙龙·巴兰斯（Shalom Baranes）在周四的听证会上，基本重复了他本月早些时候向规划委员会做的报告，详细介绍了近9万平方英尺的建筑以及内部2.2万平方英尺的宴会厅。
特朗普政府辩称，历任政府长期需要更大的空间来接待外国政要和文化名人等贵宾。白宫管理与行政主任约书亚·费希尔告诉委员会成员，宴会厅将帮助特朗普及未来总统更好地展示国家形象，从而推进其政策议程。
“这是民主的舞台，”费希尔说，“在这里，联盟将得到尊重，文化成就将得到认可，美国将向世界展示自己。”
艺术委员会成员对该计划提出了几个问题。库克追问巴兰斯，宴会厅的三角楣饰（计划入口上方的三角形拱门）是否可以缩小。
“它太大了，”他说，将其与隔壁更大的财政部大楼相比，并警告说从建筑南侧眺望白宫时的视觉影响。“它太大了。”
巴兰斯称设计是特朗普的偏好。
玛丽·安妮·卡特（Mary Anne Carter）是新任命的艺术委员会成员，同时也是国家艺术基金会主席，她询问巴兰斯宴会厅是否为总统提供了足够的安全保障，并要求在未来会议中更新相关安全措施。艺术委员会的职权范围历来侧重于设计问题，而非安全事务。
“我们都希望它美观，”卡特说，“但我们也希望总统和未来的总统安全无虞。”
特朗普曾面临暗杀企图，他表示希望宴会厅能用于举办总统就职典礼。
曾参与宴会厅项目的麦克克里里已回避相关报告。
另外两名新艺术委员会成员——保守派艺术评论家罗杰·金博尔（Roger Kimball）和特朗普去年任命为国家人文基金会成员的艺术家兼电影制片人马修·泰勒（Matthew Taylor）——未提出任何问题。
艺术委员会官员告诉新委员，他们收集了数十条对该项目的公众评论，绝大多数持批评态度。
巴兰斯表示，包括3D图纸在内的更多项目细节将很快公布。他还告诉委员会，他尚未开始设计计划中的西翼柱廊二层扩建部分，白宫官员曾提出此举是为了平衡行政官邸两侧的建筑。他说，柱廊是否建造将取决于正在进行的结构评估结果。
在周四下午的听证会上，利昂询问宴会厅的尺寸是否可以缩小，包括降低高度。
“从建筑角度看，是否有可能缩小规模？”利昂问休尔，后者表示任何高度变化都难以实现。休尔还争辩说，在不缩小宽度的情况下降低高度，会导致建筑更矮、更宽，视觉上比原计划的宴会厅更具破坏性。
听证会结束后，约二十多名白宫和司法部官员在法院走廊聚集了几分钟。当《华盛顿邮报》记者走近时，他们分散开来。
Federal judge questions Trump’s authority to build White House ballroom
January 22, 2026 at 5:32 p.m. EST / The Washington Post
Judge Richard Leon focused on whether the Trump administration’s use of private donations to fund the $400 million project was an “end run” around Congress.
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/D7AIP6M2SYM6BTDA4B3S2EPLC4.JPG
President Donald Trump holds up a model of an arch while delivering remarks in the East Room of the White House on Oct. 15, during a fundraising dinner for a new White House ballroom. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
By Dan Diamond
and
Jonathan Edwards
Diamond and Edwards have been covering the White House’s ballroom project. They are reachable securely on Signal at dan_diamond.01 and jle.11.
A federal judge on Thursday questioned whether the Trump administration is legally allowed to build President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom, asking Justice Department lawyers to cite a law that gives him the power to do so.
“Where do you see the authority for the president to tear down the East Wing and build something in its place?” said Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush. Historic preservationists sued the Trump administration in December, demanding a halt to the project until it undergoes reviews.
Leon criticized the Trump administration for an “end run” around congressional oversight by soliciting private donations to build the planned $400 million ballroom, characterizing the administration’s argument to rely on Interior Department authority as a “Rube Goldberg contraption.”
Leon also repeatedly pressed Justice Department lawyers to explain how Trump had the authority to rapidly demolish the East Wing annex and construct a planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom. He mocked the administration’s comparison of the project to a swimming pool built in 1975 by then-President Gerald Ford that was funded by private donations.
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“You compare that to ripping down the East Wing and building a new East Wing?” Leon said. “C’mon. Be serious.”
Leon said that he did not plan to rule on the matter in January but could issue a decision in February. The White House has said it plans to begin aboveground construction of the ballroom in April.
Leon said that regardless of how he rules, he expects the case to be appealed to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and even the Supreme Court.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit group charged by Congress with helping preserve historic buildings, sued the Trump administration in December, arguing that the White House had failed to undertake legally required reviews as well as obtain authorization from Congress before demolishing the East Wing.
“The president is a temporary resident of the White House. He’s not the landlord,” said Tad Heuer, a Foley Hoag lawyer representing the National Trust, calling for a halt to construction.
“He’s a steward,” Leon replied.
Justice Department lawyers argued that Congress had authorized the White House to pursue changes to its campus by setting aside several million dollars in funding and allowing the Interior Department to solicit gifts for national parks. Leon said that the congressional authorization was narrow and limited to matters such as White House maintenance.
Heuer agreed with Leon that congressional approval for a few million dollars a year to update an HVAC system or make minor repairs does not amount to blessing a project along the lines of a $400 million ballroom building.
“Congress does not hide elephants in mouse holes,” he told the judge.
Yaakov Roth, a Justice Department lawyer arguing the case, told Leon that construction could not be halted, citing national security reasons.
“It can’t be divided out that way,” Roth said.
The hearing, which was attended by Joshua Fisher, a White House senior official helping oversee the ballroom, and other administration officials, came hours after Trump’s handpicked arts commissioners met to discuss the planned ballroom. That panel’s new leader raised several questions about its size and design but indicating he favors the controversial project.
“It’s an important thing to the president. It’s an important thing to the nation. We all know it,” said Rodney Mims Cook Jr., the newly elected chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts. He added that there was a clear need to create a permanent space where presidents could host large events. “I think that that is our charge … [to]take care of what the president wants us to do.”
The Commission of Fine Arts is one of two federal panels set to review the proposed ballroom’s design, effect on the city’s historic views and other aspects of urban planning. The White House has said it hopes to obtain approval from the panels in the next two months, a far faster review process compared with other large projects that have sometimes needed years.
Both the Commission of Fine Arts and the other panel, the National Capital Planning Commission, are now led by Trump appointees after the president removed members named by the Biden administration. The Commission of Fine Arts’ new members include James McCrery II, who served as Trump’s first architect on the planned White House ballroom, and Cook, a developer and designer who served on the commission during the first Trump administration before being removed by President Joe Biden.
Shalom Baranes, chief architect of the White House ballroom project, on Thursday largely reprised a presentation he gave to the planning commission earlier this month, detailing the nearly 90,000-square-foot building and the 22,000-square-foot ballroom inside.
The Trump administration argued that administrations have long needed a larger space to entertain VIP guests like foreign dignitaries and cultural icons. Josh Fisher, director of White House management and administration, told commissioners that the ballroom will help Trump and future presidents carry out their policy agendas by presenting the country in the best possible light.
“It is a stage for democracy,” Fisher said. “It is where alliances will be honored, where cultural achievements will be recognized and where the United States will present itself to the world.”
The arts commissioners raised several questions about the planned project. Cook pressed Baranes on whether the ballroom’s pediment — the triangular arch above the planned portico — could be reduced.
“It is immense,” he said, comparing it to the much larger Treasury building next door and warning of the visual impact as people look upon the White House from the south side of the building. “It’s immense.”
Baranes said the design was Trump’s preference.
Mary Anne Carter, another newly named fine arts commissioner who also chairs the National Endowment for the Arts, questioned Baranes on whether the ballroom offered sufficient protection for the president and asked for updates at future meetings. The arts panel’s purview has historically focused on design matters, not security.
“We all want it to be beautiful,” Carter said. “We also want this president and future presidents to be safe and secure.”
Trump, who has faced assassination attempts, has said he wants the ballroom to be equipped to host a presidential inauguration.
McCrery, having worked on the ballroom, recused himself from the presentation.
The other two new arts commissioners — Roger Kimball, a conservative art critic, and Matthew Taylor, an artist and filmmaker whom Trump installed at the National Endowment for the Humanities last year — did not ask questions.
The Commission of Fine Arts collected several dozen public comments that were overwhelmingly critical of the planned project, a CFA official told the new commissioners.
Baranes said that more details about the project, including 3D drawings, would be coming soon. He also told the panel that he had not begun designing a planned second-story addition to the West Wing colonnade, which White House officials have proposed as a way to balance the two buildings flanking the executive mansion. Whether the colonnade gets built will depend on the results of ongoing structural assessments, he said.
At Thursday afternoon’s hearing, Leon asked whether the ballroom’s dimensions could be reduced, including by lowering its height.
“Would it be possible, architecturally, to go smaller?” Leon asked Heuer, who said any changes to the building’s height could be difficult to implement. Heuer also argued that lowering the building’s height without shrinking its width could result in a shorter, squatter building that would be more visually disruptive than the planned ballroom.
After the hearing, about two dozen White House and Justice Department officials gathered for several minutes in the court hallway.They dispersed when a Washington Post reporter approached.
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