What a Nile crocodile case means for Trump’s DC building projects

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision backing President Donald Trump’s massive ballroom at the White House is already playing into challenges over his other pet projects and has renewed a debate over a legal doctrine tied to an abandoned California ski resort and crocodiles in Egypt. Over the objection of Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberals, five conservative justices last week barred a historic preservationist from suing over the $400 million ballroom for “aesthetic” reasons. The Trump administration has rushed to use that decision to shut down lawsuits against the president’s other construction plans for the nation’s capital. At the heart of some of those cases are questions about the scope of “aesthetic standing,” or the idea that Americans have a right to sue in some instances based on changes that deprive them of the enjoyment of seeing a landscape, for instance, or an endangered animal.