The tale came to mind recently as I read about a hearing challenging President Trump's authority to build a new ballroom where the White House's East Wing had stood until Trump abruptly demolished it last fall. The president had been insisting for some time that any work would not 'interfere with the current building,' then razed it so quickly that no one had any time to intervene legally. In court this month, a Justice Department lawyer echoed the parricide orphan, pleading with a judge not to halt construction and arguing that it is necessary due to unspecified security concerns'even if he agreed with a suit brought by preservationists. 'It does not benefit the public,' DOJ's Yaakov Roth said, 'to have this site dormant.' Perhaps the administration should have considered this before it demolished the bustling building that used to be there. (U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon has not ruled but has said that he hopes to issue a decision by the end of this month.) The Trump...
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