The Justice Department is invoking the shooting outside the White House over the weekend as to why redevelopment of the East Wing, including construction of a planned ballroom, should go forward uninterrupted.

The DOJ filed a brief on Sunday to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the lawsuit filed by a preservationist group aiming to stop construction of the White House ballroom. In its brief, the DOJ specifically cited the Saturday shooting outside the executive mansion as a reason the injunction barring construction of the ballroom should be dissolved.