Trump Puts 250 Workers on the Ballroom 20 Hours a Day and Tells the Supreme Court It Is 'Beyond the Point of Return'

With the ballroom's fate before the Supreme Court, the administration has put 250 workers on the site 20 hours a day, seven days a week, and told the justices in a court filing that the project is now two-thirds complete, with plans this week to install 1 million pounds of rebar and pour 3,000 cubic yards of concrete. Joshua Fisher, the White House director of management and administration, wrote that the superstructure is "beyond the point of return" and that even if the Court ordered the building altered or removed, "there would be no way to do so." Fisher said $335 million of the $400 million had been raised from private donors.

Building faster while a case is pending changes what a court can practically order, converting a legal question about congressional authorization into a question about undoing finished construction.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation told the justices on Tuesday that the administration is trying to "outrun judicial review" and asked for a temporary halt plus argument in October or November. An appeals court order halting aboveground work takes effect Friday; the justices were expected to act before then.