{"id":150807,"date":"2026-05-08T13:39:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/05\/08\/trump-doj-courts-rule-11-sanctions-in-ballroom-case\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T13:39:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:39:52","slug":"trump-doj-courts-rule-11-sanctions-in-ballroom-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/05\/08\/trump-doj-courts-rule-11-sanctions-in-ballroom-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump DOJ Courts Rule 11 Sanctions In Ballroom Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

There comes a time in every high-profile DOJ case when you know something absolutely batshit is about to go down. It starts with the entry of appearance<\/a> by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward.<\/p>\n

After a crazed gunman tried to shoot up the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner, Acting AG Todd Blanche tweeted out<\/a> an indignant letter demanding that the National Trust for Historic Preservation drop its lawsuit to block Trump from building his tacky ballroom<\/a> on the site of the former East Wing.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s time to build the ballroom. pic.twitter.com\/cUMkVpehGY<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Acting AG Todd Blanche (@DAGToddBlanche) April 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cEnough is enough. Your client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today in light of last night\u2019s assassination attempt on President Trump,\u201d huffed Brett Shumate, the head of the DOJ\u2019s Civil Division. \u201cIf your client does not dismiss the lawsuit by 9:00 AM on Monday, the government will move to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case in light of last night\u2019s extraordinary events. We will state your position as opposed if we do not hear back from you by 9:00 AM on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

It does not seem to have occurred to any of the brain geniuses at the DOJ that the injunction<\/a> had already been stayed<\/a> by the DC Circuit, thanks to the appeal of Judge Richard Leon\u2019s order. (Or maybe they knew, and they decided to tweet nonsense anyway because Trump\u2019s DOJ is a PR shop, not a law firm.) This appeal had, of course, divested the trial judge of authority to modify his own ruling, even if he were so inclined. And so the DOJ called in the guy willing to say just about anything to satisfy his boss.<\/p>\n

On the same day he entered his appearance, Stan Woodward docketed a shockingly inappropriate document<\/a> that strongly resembled a Truth Social post tapped out by a demented octogenarian. ATL\u2019s Joe Patrice broke down<\/a> the ungrammatical screed masquerading as a motion for indicative ruling. Shorn of its multiple references to \u201cTRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,\u201d the howlergram was a request for Judge Leon to tell the DC Circuit that, if he did<\/em> have jurisdiction over the matter, he would see the error of his ways and rule that Trump is entitled to build Mar-a-Lago on the Potomac without input from Congress.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the petition wasn\u2019t just<\/em> embarrassing. It was also mendacious, according to the Trust\u2019s response<\/a> filed yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendants make multiple factual representations to the Court that the Defendants\u2019 counsel know to be false,\u201d wrote the plaintiffs\u2019 lawyer Greg Craig, the former White House Counsel referred to by Woodward as \u201cthe lawyer for Barack Hussein Obama.\u201d <\/p>\n

What followed resembled a recurring Saturday Night Live skit<\/a> from the 2010s that featured Fox and Friends Hosts bumbling through the news, followed by a lengthy correction reel informing watchers that \u201cHaitian does not mean \u2018half-Asian,’\u201d and \u201cChef Boyardee is not the Vice President of Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No, the the National Trust was never \u201cshown detailed plans and specifications of this knitted, unified, and cohesive structure by Top Officers and Leaders in both the Military and Secret Service.\u201d<\/p>\n

No, the Trust was not \u201casked by the United States Military not to bring this suit because of the Top Secret nature of the important facility being built.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is factually inaccurate to say that \u201cCongress has never dictated or tampered with the zoning, permitting, or architectural aspects\u201d of any White House project.<\/p>\n

No, the Trust\u2019s aesthetic standing isn\u2019t based on a random woman \u201cwalking her dog in the vicinity of the White House.\u201d In fact Alison Hoagland is the \u201cformer senior historian at the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service, the former Vice President of the D.C. Preservation League, the author of six books on American vernacular architecture, and a regular visitor to President\u2019s Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, despite the histrionics of Woodward\u2019s motion, construction has not been delayed at all<\/em>, thanks to repeated stays by the trial and appellate courts.<\/p>\n

Craig was not petty enough to point out that Woodward was also fudging the truth when he claimed that the ballroom is being \u201cgiven FREE OF CHARGE AS A GIFT TO THE COUNTRY!\u201d But we at ATL suffer from no such scruple: Republicans just added $1 billion<\/a> to the bill to end the DHS shutdown, earmarking the funds for security improvements to the ballroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this may be standard fare for a social media post. But in a federal court filing, it is neither appropriate nor permitted. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b); D.C. Rule of Professional Conduct 3.3(a)(1),\u201d Craig wrote. \u201cNor was the filing submitted by a junior attorney: it was signed by three of the most senior attorneys at the Department of Justice (although notably, not by any attorneys who had appeared previously in this case).\u201d<\/p>\n

The motion ended with a request \u201cthat the Court decline to enter an indicative ruling, and grant any further relief it deems warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have not lived a good enough life to see a court impose Rule 11 sanctions on the the top three lawyers at Trump\u2019s DOJ. Although if there\u2019s any jurist out-of-fucks enough to do it, it\u2019s Judge Leon.<\/p>\n

Fingers crossed!<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

The post Trump DOJ Courts Rule 11 Sanctions In Ballroom Case<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

There comes a time in every high-profile DOJ case when you know something absolutely batshit is about to go down. It starts with the entry of appearance<\/a> by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward.<\/p>\n

After a crazed gunman tried to shoot up the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner, Acting AG Todd Blanche tweeted out<\/a> an indignant letter demanding that the National Trust for Historic Preservation drop its lawsuit to block Trump from on the site of the former East Wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough is enough. Your client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today in light of last night\u2019s assassination attempt on President Trump,\u201d huffed Brett Shumate, the head of the DOJ\u2019s Civil Division. \u201cIf your client does not dismiss the lawsuit by 9:00 AM on Monday, the government will move to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case in light of last night\u2019s extraordinary events. We will state your position as opposed if we do not hear back from you by 9:00 AM on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

It does not seem to have occurred to any of the brain geniuses at the DOJ that the injunction<\/a> had already been stayed<\/a> by the DC Circuit, thanks to the appeal of Judge Richard Leon\u2019s order. (Or maybe they knew, and they decided to tweet nonsense anyway because Trump\u2019s DOJ is a PR shop, not a law firm.) This appeal had, of course, divested the trial judge of authority to modify his own ruling, even if he were so inclined. And so the DOJ called in the guy willing to say just about anything to satisfy his boss.<\/p>\n

On the same day he entered his appearance, Stan Woodward docketed a shockingly inappropriate document<\/a> that strongly resembled a Truth Social post tapped out by a demented octogenarian. ATL\u2019s Joe Patrice the ungrammatical screed masquerading as a motion for indicative ruling. Shorn of its multiple references to \u201cTRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,\u201d the howlergram was a request for Judge Leon to tell the DC Circuit that, if he did<\/em> have jurisdiction over the matter, he would see the error of his ways and rule that Trump is entitled to build Mar-a-Lago on the Potomac without input from Congress.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the petition wasn\u2019t just<\/em> embarrassing. It was also mendacious, according to the Trust\u2019s response<\/a> filed yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendants make multiple factual representations to the Court that the Defendants\u2019 counsel know to be false,\u201d wrote the plaintiffs\u2019 lawyer Greg Craig, the former White House Counsel referred to by Woodward as \u201cthe lawyer for Barack Hussein Obama.\u201d <\/p>\n

What followed resembled a recurring Saturday Night Live skit<\/a> from the 2010s that featured Fox and Friends Hosts bumbling through the news, followed by a lengthy correction reel informing watchers that \u201cHaitian does not mean \u2018half-Asian,’\u201d and \u201cChef Boyardee is not the Vice President of Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No, the the National Trust was never \u201cshown detailed plans and specifications of this knitted, unified, and cohesive structure by Top Officers and Leaders in both the Military and Secret Service.\u201d<\/p>\n

No, the Trust was not \u201casked by the United States Military not to bring this suit because of the Top Secret nature of the important facility being built.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is factually inaccurate to say that \u201cCongress has never dictated or tampered with the zoning, permitting, or architectural aspects\u201d of any White House project.<\/p>\n

No, the Trust\u2019s aesthetic standing isn\u2019t based on a random woman \u201cwalking her dog in the vicinity of the White House.\u201d In fact Alison Hoagland is the \u201cformer senior historian at the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service, the former Vice President of the D.C. Preservation League, the author of six books on American vernacular architecture, and a regular visitor to President\u2019s Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, despite the histrionics of Woodward\u2019s motion, construction has not been delayed at all<\/em>, thanks to repeated stays by the trial and appellate courts.<\/p>\n

Craig was not petty enough to point out that Woodward was also fudging the truth when he claimed that the ballroom is being \u201cgiven FREE OF CHARGE AS A GIFT TO THE COUNTRY!\u201d But we at ATL suffer from no such scruple: Republicans just added $1 billion<\/a> to the bill to end the DHS shutdown, earmarking the funds for security improvements to the ballroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this may be standard fare for a social media post. But in a federal court filing, it is neither appropriate nor permitted. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b); D.C. Rule of Professional Conduct 3.3(a)(1),\u201d Craig wrote. \u201cNor was the filing submitted by a junior attorney: it was signed by three of the most senior attorneys at the Department of Justice (although notably, not by any attorneys who had appeared previously in this case).\u201d<\/p>\n

The motion ended with a request \u201cthat the Court decline to enter an indicative ruling, and grant any further relief it deems warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have not lived a good enough life to see a court impose Rule 11 sanctions on the the top three lawyers at Trump\u2019s DOJ. Although if there\u2019s any jurist out-of-fucks enough to do it, it\u2019s Judge Leon.<\/p>\n

Fingers crossed!<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There comes a time in every high-profile DOJ case when you know something absolutely batshit is about to go down. It starts with the entry of appearance by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. After a crazed gunman tried to shoot up the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner, Acting AG Todd Blanche tweeted out an indignant letter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":150775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/law-and-chaos-logo-liz-dye-300x153-59wxHY.jpg?fit=300%2C153&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}