India, Sept. 1 -- The East Wing of the White House is gone. In its place, 250 workers are operating around the clock to sink a five-story structure 70 feet below ground and raise a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom skyward. On Monday, the Supreme Court decided that nothing would stop them.

In a 5-4 ruling that drew a sharp dissent from Chief Justice John Roberts, the court's conservative majority cleared the way for President Trump's $400 million White House ballroom project to continue while a legal challenge plays out. The majority did not rule on whether the project was lawful. It concluded only that the group challenging it, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, likely lacked legal standing to sue at all. It was a narrower pro...