A federal appeals court hearing over Trump's unauthorised White House ballroom produced one of the most extraordinary legal arguments in recent memory: that the president can destroy any national landmark and face no judicial accountability so long as the demolition happens fast enough.
On 5 June 2026, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit heard oral arguments in National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service, the legal challenge to President Donald Trump's plan to demolish the White House East Wing and replace it with a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, a project costing an estimated £317 million ($400 million) and never approved by Congress.
