Overview
- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche filed a supplemental brief on Sunday asking a court to lift the March injunction and allow the East Wing ballroom construction to proceed on urgent security grounds.
- The DOJ brief cites a weekend shooting near a White House checkpoint and the April 25 press‑dinner shooting as evidence the president’s safety and official functions require the new, heavily fortified facility.
- The filing describes specific installations planned for the ballroom, including bomb shelters, a state‑of‑the‑art hospital, Top Secret military spaces, a large drone port, and rooftop sniper facilities.
- A federal judge ordered above‑ground work paused on March 31 until Congress authorizes the project and courts resolve the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s suit, though an appeals court has allowed limited work while the case moves forward.
- The filing has prompted three lines of pushback: legal claims that approvals and environmental review were bypassed, political resistance to roughly $1 billion in proposed security funding, and media concern that the brief’s Trump‑style prose and disclosed details risk operational exposure.