WASHINGTON — After a gunman opened fire near the White House over the weekend, President Donald Trump’s administration made an urgent plea to the judge hearing a lawsuit over his proposed ballroom, saying in a brief that the shooting shows why the president needs the ballroom to safely host special events.

“Without this National Security Facility, such events are otherwise relegated to the vulnerable tents on the South Lawn, exposed to various threats, as again shown by last night’s shooting, which would have been easily in range to reach a tent,” the Justice Department said in its brief filed Sunday. (Secret Service agents fatally shot a 21-year-old man with apparent mental health issues who’d opened fire on a checkpoint.)

But the supposed vulnerability of the South Lawn hasn’t stopped the White House from hosting major events there — including an open-air mixed-martial arts event scheduled for June 14, which happens to be Trump’s 80th birthday.

Large arches have been erected on the South Lawn ahead of the “UFC Freedom 250” event Trump’s hosting as part of his administration’s celebration of America’s upcoming 250th birthday. The UFC envisions hundreds of guests watching fights under bright lights and a dusky sky just outside the executive mansion.

Juliette Kayyem, a lecturer on national security at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a former official at the Department of Homeland Security, said the UFC plans undermine the administration’s ballroom argument.

“You can’t have both. You can’t say, ‘We’re going to do the UFC and it’s going to be safe and secure, and we’re going to have this big event. And by the way, we need a ballroom because we can’t protect the president,’” Kayyem told HuffPost. “Those two things don’t go together.”

The administration complained in court on Sunday about the South Lawn because U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, said earlier this year that construction of the ballroom could not continue unless Congress gives its blessing. So far, Republican lawmakers have balked at the administration’s $1 billion request for its “East Wing Modernization Project.”

“This court’s unlawful injunction has wrongfully cast a cloud of uncertainty around the future of the entire East Wing Project, which is being constructed for the physical safety and security of all Presidents, their families, staff, Foreign Dignitaries, and guests,” the administration said.

Leon’s injunction has been stayed by an appeals court, which said underground construction of the ballroom could continue until a hearing next month. The main issue for Leon is a federal law that says a “building or structure shall not be erected on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.”

The stakes are high: If the administration can’t convince Congress to come around and can’t find a judge willing to reinterpret the law, the East Wing could remain a hole in the ground.

In a statement, a White House spokesman said the Secret Service needs that extra $1 billion “to upgrade its security posture and be able to properly address the ever growing threats of political violence in this historically heightened threat environment.” The statement did not mention the ballroom.

Mike Matranga, a former Secret Service agent who now runs a security consulting firm, said being able to host events in a large ballroom on the White House grounds would definitely make it easier to keep the president safe. But he said the Secret Service can make the South Lawn safe as well.

“The South Lawn is absolutely secure,” Matranga said. “If they have an event on the South grounds of the White House, they’ll just push the perimeter further out from the public having access to it.”

Trump emphasized the supposed security necessity of the ballroom following an attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last month. But when Trump first announced his ballroom plans last year, the administration said tents on the South Lawn were unsightly rather than unsafe.

“The White House is one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the world, yet the White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance,” the White House said in a July press release.

The shift towards a security argument, Kayyem said, is cynical.

“The ballroom was never about security, it was about the party,” Kayyem said. “The UFC arena is just exposing that lie.”

On Sunday, the government also complained in its court filing that tents have “virtually no ability to stop a bullet” and, on top of that, they’re “vulnerable to water and flooding.”

“Over the years, many an evening has been ruined by even moderate rain,” the administration said.

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