White House itemizes $250,000 for bowling alley lights, Supreme Court clears its ballroom with no price tag attached.

…(cont) The ruling is precise where the cost is not. Five justices, in a 5-4 decision, lifted a lower court's block on the ballroom's above-ground construction. That block had come from a federal district judge and had been upheld by the D.C. Circuit, both finding the National Trust's objections serious enough to halt the work. The Supreme Court's majority disagreed, weighing the administration's argument that the project is necessary for national security. Chief Justice Roberts did not join that majority. He sided with the three dissenting justices and, in doing so, called the ballroom project likely unlawful.

So one ledger line has a spokesman, a total, and a repair list: lights, two lanes, $250,000. The other has a docket number, a 5-4 vote, and a chief justice on record calling it likely unlawful — and still no figure attached to what continues as a result. The court that reviewed it did not require one to let the work proceed.

Two lanes, one alley, priced to the dollar and filed this week. One ballroom, cleared to proceed this week, filed with no price at all. Same week, same address, same institution asking the public to trust its accounting. The bowling alley got a receipt. The ballroom got a ruling instead of one.

Put the two lines side by side, hon, and the pattern isn't complicated: the small renovation came with a bill, and the large one came with a majority. Whichever project actually costs more, only one of them has told you so far.