Trump’s DOJ Argues They Could Tear Down The Statue Of Liberty Without Legal Repercussions

BreakingBusinessTrump’s DOJ Argues They Could Tear Down The Statue Of Liberty Without Legal RepercussionsByAlison Durkee,Forbes Staff. Alison is a senior news reporter covering US politics and legal news.Follow AuthorJun 05, 2026, 01:55pm EDTToplineA Justice Department attorney argued to a federal appeals court Friday that the Trump administration could hypothetically bulldoze the Statue of Liberty and Americans with cultural ties to the landmark couldn’t sue them for it, as the Trump administration fights to defend the construction of President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom.The sun rises behind the Statue of Liberty on September 13, 2025, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey.Getty ImagesKey FactsThe Trump administration argued before a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., on Friday over the fate of Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom, after a lower court judge ruled the construction couldn’t move forward without Congress’ approval.As part of those arguments, the attorney representing the DOJ in court, Yaakov Roth, argued to the court that people who felt aggrieved by visual changes to the White House didn’t have standing to sue over it once demolition to the East Wing, which was bulldozed to make way for the ballroom, had already begun.Judge Patricia Millett raised several hypothetical questions to Roth about whether people with some kind of tie to landmarks could sue over their demolition, such as whether an ancestor of slaves who built the White House could sue if the main mansion were ever demolished—which Roth argued they could not, at least after demolition had already begun.Millett criticized the government’s position that it could not be sued as long as it “goes too fast” in demolishing a landmark, before questioning whether the same line of thinking would apply to the Statue of Liberty.The judge asked if people whose ancestors saw the Statue of Liberty as their first view when they immigrated to America could sue “if the governme...