ArcaMax

American history has been turned upside down. In order to prevent any president from becoming a king, our Founding Fathers wisely established three branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. But that’s no longer the case. Today we only have one branch, the Executive, where the president has absolute power. The other two, once equally powerful branches of government, are empty vessels. Congress merely delivers whatever new laws the president wants or gets rid of ones he doesn’t like; the Supreme Court exists only to rubber stamp anything the president does and knock down any attempts to stop him.

That’s not a prediction of how things might turn out. That’s the mess we’re in today. Where both the Republican-controlled Congress and the Republican-stacked Supreme Court have surrendered whatever powers they used to have in order to serve as nothing but Donald Trump’s lackeys. And that’s never been more apparent than in this week’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision allowing Trump to proceed with construction of his monumental (to himself) ballroom.

Any president has authority to maintain and make minor repairs to the White House, but by law, as two lower courts affirmed, any major structural changes to the White House must first be approved by Congress. Without its approval, constructing a mammoth new ballroom addition to the White House is downright illegal.

But, of course, that didn’t stop Donald Trump. After returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia in May 2025, he proposed building a new White House ballroom even bigger and glitzier than the king’s. Which, like everything Trump does, was sold all on a pack of lies. That every other president had yearned for a ballroom. That it would be built near the East Wing, without touching it. And that it would be entirely paid for by big donors, with no taxpayer dollars involved. Only much later, after the failed assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, did Trump add another lie: that the ballroom was necessary to protect the president from harm.

Then, in October 2025, without seeking approval from Congress, Trump ordered contractors to tear down the East Wing of the White House and start construction of his ballroom. He did so, counting on Republicans in Congress to do nothing. He could paint the White House blue and they wouldn’t object. And trusting his Supreme Court to save his butt, if necessary. He was right about both.

On behalf of one prominent D.C. resident, the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued Trump for breaking the law. D.C. District Court judge Richard J. Leon agreed, but – mistakenly – allowed construction to continue while his decision was appealed. The D.C. appeals court also agreed, voting 2-1 against Trump, but again allowed construction to proceed while Trump’s lawyers begged the Supreme Court to step in. Which the court did, in a decision no freshman law student could read without laughing out loud.

Clearly, the only question five justices asked before voting was not “what’s the law say?” but “what’s my dear leader want?” Their ruling is so blatantly political, it’s embarrassing.

First, they ruled that the Trust for Historic Preservation had no “standing” to file the lawsuit. What? The Trust was created by Congress over 75 years ago precisely “to save America’s historic sites.” If the White House doesn’t qualify for protection, what does? It’s not Donald Trump’s house. It’s the people’s house. Certainly, representing all Americans angry over Trump’s destruction of our house, the Trust has standing to sue to save the White House.

Second, five conservative justices swallowed the administration’s phony argument that Trump was building a “military complex,” not just a ballroom. Therefore, without a ballroom, you’d be endangering the life of the president. Ridiculous! There’s long been a security bunker under the White House, and no doubt it needed some improvements. But that doesn’t mean you have to build a 90,000 square foot Taj Mahal on top of it. The frivolous ballroom has nothing to do with serious national security.

Most surprisingly, Chief Justice John Roberts himself joined three liberals on the court and wrote their strong dissent, asserting that Trump’s construction of the ballroom was “likely unlawful.” The White House is “an iconic American building,” Roberts wrote. “All the more reason to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

But when did Donald Trump ever follow the rules? He never has and he never will.

(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)

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