US Supreme Court clears way for Trump to keep building White House ballroom

NEW: US Supreme Court clears the way for Trump to keep building his $400m White House ballroom in a 5-4 ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts dissenting that the construction is 'likely unlawful'.

The Supreme Court just cleared Trump's $400 million White House ballroom, five to four.

And here's the part that made me sit up. Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, crossed over to dissent with the three liberals, writing that the construction is likely unlawful because Congress never approved it. His line was blunt, today's decision is no victory for the separation of powers.

The pictures tell you how far along this already is. Trump demolished the historic East Wing last autumn, and these aerial shots show the excavators sitting on the South Lawn right now. Ninety thousand square feet, substantially finished by November, fully done by August 2028, according to the White House. Trump himself has been giving tours of the site.

The majority never actually said the project was legal. They said the preservation group suing had no standing to ask. So the ballroom rises, and the question Roberts raised just stays open.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.