Trump’s ballroom construction ‘likely unlawful,’ John Roberts says
www.the-independent.com
Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's three liberal justices, writing in his dissent that the ongoing construction was ‘likely unlawful’

Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s three liberal justices, writing in his dissent that the ongoing construction was ‘likely unlawful’

A 5-4 conservative majority on the Supreme Court ruled Monday that construction on a new $400 million White House ballroom can proceed, reversing lower court orders that had temporarily halted aboveground work on the project.

Chief Justice John Roberts dissented from the decision, writing that the ongoing construction was “likely unlawful.”

Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in opposition, arguing that work on the facility had moved forward unchecked for nearly a year despite significant legal flaws.

Despite Roberts’ warning, the majority threw out the challenge against the Trump administration on procedural grounds. The court concluded that the plaintiff, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, lacked the legal standing required to pursue a federal lawsuit.

    • zeppo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      5 hours ago

      One issue is that he had no authorization from Congress or anyone to tear down the building that was there previously. Then, he said it was going to be paid for by $300 million from private donors, which I don’t think is legal. Then he said it’s going to require an additional 300 or 400 million, maybe up to 1 billion, from taxpayers. And you ask, is it because Trump is doing it? Well, no president can actually do this. Construction like this is supposed to be done through Congress.

      And then yes, the fact that this is being done by this deranged orange-painted criminal piece of shit while he’s claiming that the country doesn’t have money for so many other things (besides war) is a problem. You’d expect a president to be focused on things that actually help the public, but he’s focused on his idiotic ballroom while also claiming that it is necessary for security, which makes no sense.

      And, apparently it’s supposed to include a bunker and other defense/military aspect, though the White House already has a bunker. Probably not enough ostentatious gold shit in there for him. Maybe he needs a bunker for when he starts a civil war or refuses to leave office.

      So “is it because of Trump”? Yes, basically everything he does is a problem due to how he does things. This will probably involve a lot of cut corners, inflated costs, cronyism, and no bid contracts given to incompetent people to basically steal the public money. Also, the “privately funded” part equates to bribery. So you might mean it like “ they’re just objecting because it’s Trump!“ and no, absolutely fucking not.

    • Ava@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      9·
      5 hours ago

      Trump initially indicated that he wanted to build a ballroom, but that none of the East Wing would’ve been touched. As with any significant government building, there’s a good amount of history and significance to the East wing. It’s also where guests would enter and hosted the First Lady’s office/staff.

      Trump then proceeded to ignore the standard rules/requirements for making changes to the building, which he doesn’t have unilateral authority to do. He leveled the East Wing, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the project during a government shutdown, money which was essentially pilfered from other allocations IIRC.

      Despite various attempts to check his illegal construction efforts, he has continued unabated. Some of the funding has also come from “private donors” which has pretty transparently been influence bribery from important figures and CEOs and stuff.

      There’s been a lot to it over time, but that’s some of the broad strokes.