It’s been a wild day in federal courts and not a good one for the president of the United States or, frankly for the Constitution. In one ruling, a lowly district court judge ruled that President Trump didn’t have the authority to defund PBS and NPR, despite the fact that Congress passed legislation removing funding through the Big Beautiful Bill. Last time I checked, Congress held the power of the federal purse strings, and presidents the authority to sign a piece of legislation or veto it, then giving Congress an opportunity to override the veto.
Next, another judge just ordered Trump to halt construction of the big, beautiful ballroom, claiming Trump lacked the authority to do so because he didn’t consult first with Congress (as if that mattered when it came to the power of the purse string, as I’ve just outlined):
JUST IN: A federal judge has blocked construciton of the president's ballroom without congressional approval.
"He is not the owner," Judge Leon says of Trump. He has delayed his order for 14 days, however, giving Trump a chance to appeal.https://t.co/mvKQso8i49 pic.twitter.com/d8Y5kIuYTq
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 31, 2026
A federal judge ordered on Tuesday that construction be halted on President Trump’s proposed White House ballroom, to be built in place of the demolished East Wing, saying work must come to a stop until the project receives a go-ahead from Congress.
The decision delivered the first meaningful setback to the president’s increasingly audacious efforts to redesign the White House and Washington, D.C. It came after months of litigation in front of Judge Richard J. Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, who had previously declined to step in.
In a 35-page opinion, Judge Leon wrote that Mr. Trump likely did not have the authority to act on his own, without consulting Congress, to replace entire sections of the White House — changes that could endure for generations.
He also reiterated concerns he had raised for months in court: that from the start, the administration has provided shifting and questionable accounts of who was in charge of the project and under what authority private donations could be accepted to fund it.
“Unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!” he wrote. “But here is the good news. It is not too late for Congress to authorize the continued construction of the ballroom project.”
Judge Leon wrote that if the White House sought congressional approval, the legislature would “retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight over the government’s spending.”
The ballroom is just one item on a long list of complaints that liberals have against the president, a reaction that many people overlook except for supporters and groups that benefit from the political elite. It is simply unacceptable for dignitaries and VIPs to use portable toilets at state dinners. Therefore, a new room was necessary, and Trump was attempting to make that happen.
The good news, if there is any, is that the administration was ready for this asinine ruling because an appeal was filed in near-record time:
Record time appeal from Trump admin on the ballroom. pic.twitter.com/7AgskBTKgr
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 31, 2026
Imagine waking up every morning with a singular vision for the day: Opposing anything President Trump does, no matter how sensible, legal, or practical it is. TDS is real, folks.
