Politics and painting don’t mix, but some Washington D.C. contractors may be getting sucked into the government vortex.

It all started last month on November 12, when President Donald Trump appeared on Fox News and mentioned that he’s considering painting a historic building.

The building in question is the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, located just west of the White House. Completed in 1888, the massive granite structure once housed the State, War, and Navy Departments, but nowadays serves as a workspace for executive staff.

The president remarked in the Fox interview that he is thinking about having the 19th century building painted white, because gray granite is “for funerals.”

“I’m getting bids right now from painters, and we’ll see,” Trump told Fox. “It’d be a great addition to Washington.”

It may have seemed like an off-hand remark, but after the sudden demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make room for a grand ballroom, historians weren’t taking any chances.

The nonprofit D.C. Preservation League teamed with Cultural Heritage Partners – a local law firm specializing in historic preservation – to ask the court to enjoin the Trump administration from painting the building white.

“The planned cleaning, repointing, and repainting of the EEOB’s exterior stone and wood features, and the dramatic change in the building’s color and appearance, are likely to cause physical damage to historic materials and to diminish the EEOB’s integrity of design,” they argued in the lawsuit.

Last week, the administration fired back, arguing that the temporary injunction to halt work on the building was unnecessary because the president had not yet made a final decision on whether to paint the building or not.

“There is nothing for this court to enjoin,” the administration said.

The hearing on the preliminary injunction is scheduled for December 8. In the meantime, painting contractors may be wise to steer clear of a potentially controversial contract.