This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. A popular joke in the 1850s concerned a man who, upon being convicted for the murder of his parents, throws himself at the judge’s feet and begs for mercy on a poor orphan. 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 …