Trump asks Supreme Court to allow ballroom work to continue

US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to continue building a $400m (£295m) ballroom at the White House without congressional permission.

The emergency application comes one week after an appeals court ordered construction to stop until Congress approves, upholding a ruling won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued the administration last year.

In the latest filing, US Solicitor General D John Sauer asked that work be allowed to continue while the administration appeals the stop-work order, which he called "dangerous".

Trump has long argued the White House lacks a large event space and that building one is vital for national security.

Last week's appeals court decision does not take effect until 21 August, when ballroom construction will have to cease unless the Supreme Court grants the emergency application.

Sauer said in the filing on Friday that work on the project is 65% done and not granting it would amount to "construction-by-injunction".

"With the dangerous injunction poised to take effect for the first time on August 21, its stop-work mandate is even more flagrantly inequitable, if not impossible," he wrote.

Sauer added that "forcing the president to come hat-in-hand to Congress so the people's house is safe gives the legislature dangerous leverage".