WASHINGTON DC -- A federal judge has again ordered President Donald Trump to pause construction of a massive new ballroom at the White House, rejecting the president’s “disingenuous” bid to circumvent an earlier ruling against the project by claiming that it needed to proceed for national security reasons.

The ruling Thursday from senior US District Judge Richard Leon is the latest development in a winding legal saga around the controversial ballroom, which the judge said last month was being built unlawfully since Congress hadn’t expressly approved it.

Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, carved out an exception so that crews could continue working on a highly sophisticated bunker being installed under the proposed ballroom. But Trump had contended that the entire project was covered by that loophole since the above-ground structure “advances critical national-security objectives as an integrated whole.”

Leon forcefully rejected that argument in his latest decision, accusing the president of advancing an “incredible, if not disingenuous” reading of his earlier ruling.

“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” he wrote in the 10-page decision. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”

“National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity, and belated assertions that the above-ground ballroom is ‘inseparable’ from an array of security features are not an occasion for this Court to reweigh the equities or reconsider the preliminary injunction!” Leon wrote.

The judge reiterated that crews could continue working on the bunker and could proceed with other work “necessary to ensure the safety, security, and structural integrity of the White House” and its grounds. But he made clear that absent congressional approval of the ballroom, no above-ground construction could continue except work to cover and secure the facilities being built underground.

The Justice Department has appealed Leon’s decision.

Anticipating the appeal, Leon delayed implementation of his ruling for one week. But he warned the White House that any above-ground work that happens during that period may need to be reversed depending on how the case plays out.

“I have no desire or intention to be dragooned into the role of construction manager,” Leon wrote, adding that he trusts the president to implement his order in good faith.

The decision comes several days after a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, instructed Leon to clarify the scope of his March injunction halting work on the nearly 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

The White House had asked the appeals court to shelve that ruling, arguing the entire project “advances critical national-security objectives” because the above-ground structure involves “the use of missile-resistant steel columns, beams, drone-proof roofing materials, and bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass windows.”

“They also include the installation of bomb shelters, hospital and medical facilities, protective partitioning, and top-secret military installations, air conditioning, heating, venting, and more,” Justice Department lawyers defending the project in a lawsuit against it told the appeals court.

But the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued last year to block construction of the ballroom, has repeatedly said Trump is erroneously conflating the bunker with the above-ground addition.

“The lack of a massive ballroom on the White House grounds is not a national-security emergency. Its absence has not prevented any past president from residing in the White House during his tenure over the past two centuries, or from using the prior East Wing bunker for approximately eighty years,” the group told Leon in court papers filed this week.

“The defendants declare that the bunker needs ‘adequate above-ground cover,’ but never explain why only the President’s preferred 70-foot-tall ballroom – and not a simple at-grade slab – would suffice,” lawyers for the Trust wrote.

Carol Quillen, the president and CEO of the group, said in a statement that it’s “pleased the court upheld the preliminary injunction and halted above-ground construction of the White House ballroom until Congress approves the project.”

Trump on Thursday lashed out on social media, calling the move politically motivated and a threat to national security.

He argued in a Truth Social post that the White House lacks a large-scale event space that presidents have “desperately wanted and desired for over 150 years,” and said the planned ballroom is critical for hosting world leaders and major events safely.

Trump said that the ballroom would include extensive security features such as “Bomb Shelters, a State of the Art Hospital and Medical Facilities, Protective Partitioning, Top Secret Military Installations, Structures, and Equipment, Protective Missile Resistant Steel, Columns, Roofs, and Beams, Drone Proof Ceilings and Roofs, Military Grade Venting, and Bullet, Ballistic, and Blast Proof Glass.”

This story has been updated with additional responses.

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