CLC, CREW file Supreme Court brief opposing Trump ballroom

On Aug. 18, 2026, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court highlighting how President Donald Trump’s East Wing ballroom project is a direct violation of our constitutional system of separation of powers.

Congress — not the president — has the power of the purse, and it has neither authorized nor appropriated spending on this project. The brief calls on the court to deny President Trump’s request to stay the lower court decision to stop construction of President Trump’s East Wing ballroom. Denying the request for a stay would protect the separation of powers, prevent quid pro quo corruption, and ensure that the administration does not fundamentally transform one of the nation’s landmarks without the input of Americans’ representatives in Congress.

“The Constitution’s system of checks and balances ensures that no individual or branch of government holds absolute power,” said Trevor Potter, president of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “The president is ignoring this design by unilaterally demolishing the East Wing of the White House and trying to construct a massive ballroom with private funds, raising the risk of corruption that constitutional checks are supposed to prevent. Congress, not the president, is empowered to raise and spend taxpayer dollars — and it has not authorized the ballroom. The administration’s reliance on private donor funding for the ballroom project violates a core principle of separation of powers embedded in our Constitution.”

“President Trump has spent his second term creating pay-to-play opportunities for corporations to curry favor and advance his personal priorities, without regard for the Constitution or the American people’s best interests,” said Donald K. Sherman, President of CREW. “The Supreme Court should deny the request for a stay and ensure that this administration isn’t allowed to run roughshod over the separation of powers and dodge congressional approval for spending taxpayer dollars.” 

CLC and CREW have highlighted the need for more accountability for this private funding scheme because it disrupts public disclosure of who is funding our government and what those donors receive in return. President Trump has raised over $400 million in support of this project from major corporate donors, including Coinbase, Ripple and Lockheed Martin. These companies and other donors also have significant interests that are already before or likely to come before the federal government, and their funding of the president’s legacy project calls into question whether those interests will be improperly protected or favored. 

Respecting the separation of powers is essential to preventing this kind of corruption. Without requiring Congress’s approval for this type of spending, special interest donors can leverage private funding to shape federal policy for their own benefit. 

Photo of White House by G. Edward Johnson under Creative Commons license