Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The National Trust for Historic Preservation has filed a lawsuit against the President Donald Trump administration to block construction of a ballroom on White House grounds.
The suit claims the ballroom construction is unlawful and asks the court to stop further construction until the plans go through a review process, as required by law.
Former White House attorney under presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Greg Craig, is representing the Trust. Defendants in the suit include the president, the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the General Services Administration and their leaders. The lawsuit was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
"No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever -- not President Trump, not President Biden, not anyone else," the filing said. "And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in. President Trump's efforts to do so should be immediately halted, and work on the ballroom project should be paused until the defendants complete the required reviews -- reviews that should have taken place before the defendants demolished the East Wing, and before they began construction of the ballroom -- and secure the necessary approvals."
