Supreme Court Lets White House Ballroom Work Continue

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts signed a temporary order on Friday allowing construction on President Trump's $400 million White House ballroom to keep going. Lower courts had ruled that the project needed approval from Congress before work could continue. Roberts stepped in to pause that ruling while the Supreme Court looks at an emergency appeal from the Trump administration. The order was necessary because Roberts oversees appeals from courts based in Washington, D.C.

The Trump administration argued that the president has full authority to renovate the White House and other federal buildings. Officials also said the ballroom project must be finished for national security reasons, though they did not share many details. The Supreme Court can either let construction continue while the case plays out or bring it to a stop by siding with the lower courts.

In other news, the Pentagon released a new report on Friday showing that more U.S. troops are speaking up about unwanted sexual contact. About 33% of active-duty service members who experienced such contact in fiscal year 2025 reported it, compared with just 25% in fiscal year 2023. That means more people are willing to come forward, which officials say is a positive sign. However, the overall number of incidents still went down, with reports of sexual assault dropping from 8,195 in 2024 to 7,998 in 2025.

President Trump is planning a trip to Houston to honor the crew of the Artemis II mission. The four astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — flew farther from Earth than any humans have since the Apollo era. They traveled as far as 252,756 miles from our planet and looped around the moon, becoming the first people to see its far side with their own eyes. Trump will award them the Congressional Space Medal of Honor at the Johnson Space Center next week.

The military newspaper Stars and Stripes is facing big changes after the Pentagon fired its editor-in-chief, publisher, and a reporter. Editor Erik Slavin said he was let go after he told a TV news program that censoring news for troops would be a serious problem. Stars and Stripes has long been known for being independent from government control, even though it receives some Pentagon funding. Slavin said the newspaper must stay free from outside pressure so it can properly inform U.S. service members.

Vice President JD Vance visited a steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, to talk about the upcoming midterm elections. He said the Trump administration puts American workers first and accused Democrats of favoring foreign workers over American citizens. Vance spoke alongside Republican candidates running for Senate and governor in Ohio. He also criticized former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown for not fighting harder against what he called Biden's border crisis and rising prices.

Nearly 200 members of the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement sent a letter to President Trump criticizing his plan to use coal to power artificial intelligence data centers. The letter said that burning more coal would create more pollution and harm American children. The activists asked the government to consider cleaner energy options like solar and geothermal power instead. This is the first time the MAHA movement has spoken out strongly against Trump's energy policy.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries ended their annual training exercise six days ahead of schedule as a gesture of goodwill toward North Korea. Trump had already ordered the military to cut back the drills, called Ulchi Freedom Shield, just before they began. Even so, North Korea said the early end of the drills was not enough to bring it back to peace talks, and it fired about 10 short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday.

President Trump also announced a deal to import up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef into the United States over the next 90 days without charging extra taxes. He said the beef would be sold at prices 25% lower than current market rates, which could help families pay less at the grocery store. Trump did not name which countries the beef would come from. Some American cattle farmers have pushed back on similar plans in the past, worried that cheaper foreign beef will hurt their businesses.

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke with Trump by phone for 80 minutes on Friday. The two leaders talked about trade, organized crime, and global conflicts. Brazil is facing new U.S. tariffs that could raise taxes on some Brazilian goods by up to 37.5%. Lula said both sides agreed to keep talking about tariff deals, and he has insisted that his relationship with Trump remains friendly despite the trade tensions.