The Trump administration told a federal judge on Tuesday that it would submit plans for a new White House ballroom to be built in place of the East Wing to two federal oversight entities for review by the end of the month.
With that pledge in hand, Judge Richard J. Leon said he would refrain from ordering construction on the ballroom to be immediately halted, as had been requested by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has sued over the project.
But Judge Leon said that after the plans were delivered, he would hold a follow-up hearing in mid-January in which he would revisit whether the government was following protocol on construction.
“Let me assure you of something: The court will hold them to that,” he said. “They have until then to get it done.”
A lawyer for the administration told Judge Leon that it would file plans for the new 90,000-square-foot ballroom to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts and, in the meantime, limit construction to underground preparatory work.
The two bodies, both established by Congress, play distinct roles in the review of certain federal projects on public lands. The National Capital Planning Commission, established in 1924, has a statutory authority to review and approve federal development projects. It is chaired by an appointee of the president but its membership includes non-Trump appointees, including residents selected by Washington’s mayor.
Shortly after Mr. Trump forged ahead with demolishing the East Wing, he also fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts. At Tuesday’s hearing, a lawyer for the government said Mr. Trump would need to appoint new members to the group.
The hearing came in response to a lawsuit filed last week by the National Trust, which argued that federal law requires the president to seek “express authorization” from Congress to proceed with such major changes to the White House and make its plans open for public comment.
During the hearing, Adam Gustafson, a Justice Department lawyer, said that plans for the ballroom were still in flux, and that Mr. Trump himself was “directing this process.” He told Judge Leon that with the East Wing already fully demolished, there was little the court could do to intervene in the next steps.
In a filing on Monday, the Trump administration said the changes were designed to adapt to the “evolving needs of the presidency.” The White House hosts major events and, without a large ballroom space, events routinely spill outside or must cap attendance. The administration sought to equate the project to other, far more minor renovations and additions that presidents have made throughout American history.
But Judge Leon appeared skeptical at times about the project’s rapid progression, pressing for details about its final scope.
Lawyers representing the National Trust argued in filings that the construction of the proposed structure, which is intended to accommodate as many as 1,000 people, had ballooned in scope to such an extent that it could overshadow much of the White House complex.
They described the president’s goal as “perhaps the most substantial exterior alteration to the country’s most recognizable and historically significant building since it was reconstructed after being burned during the War of 1812.”
In a filing before the hearing, the lawyers had asked the court to slam the brakes on “any and all actions in furtherance of the physical development of the ballroom project,” including further demolition, laying foundations and altering the surrounding landscape.
A nonprofit organization chartered by Congress to manage preservation of historical areas, the National Trust said the administration had violated a number of clear requirements in a secretive rush to realize Mr. Trump’s vision. It argued the White House had proceeded without soliciting public comment or submitting an environmental review, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Tad Heuer, a lawyer representing the National Trust, told Judge Leon that at every stage of the project, starting with the initial demolition of the East Wing in October, groups concerned about the fate of the White House had been flying blind. He said the White House had consistently ignored past promises to release more details about the projects, and that the judge could not trust the new vow to submit the ballroom’s plans before the end of the month.
“It’s always going to happen in ‘the next two weeks,’” Mr. Heuer said of the pledge.
Since October, Democrats in Congress and media outlets have homed in on the corporations and wealthy donors who financed the project’s costs, which Mr. Trump has said surpassed $350 million. The lawsuit also documented the president’s evolving public statements about the project, which he once pledged would not involve demolition of existing structures and which has steadily grown in scale from more modest proposals discussed in October.
Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the federal courts, including the legal disputes over the Trump administration’s agenda.
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