In response to a lawsuit seeking to halt what plaintiffs called a “deeply corrupt” plan to hold UFC cage fights at the White House this weekend, the Trump administration pointed to events hosted under prior administrations.
“No one raised a cavil at the Biden ice-rink or Elton John stage,” the government said in its opposition filing.
It said that during Joe Biden’s presidency, the White House “erected a 48 foot by 68 foot ice-skating rink on the South Lawn, complete with a 100-ton air cooled refrigeration system and pump, lighting system, and sound system,” for an event that the filing said was “supported by the National Hockey League and Comcast.”
In response to criticism of what the new lawsuit called the Trump administration’s “unlawful” building of the “92-foot-tall, 600-ton steel structure it calls ‘the Claw,’” the administration said the White House had previously “erected substantial temporary structures when hosting concerts,” citing a 2022 Elton John performance on the South Lawn.
It added that President Barack Obama “regularly put on exhibitions at the White House in partnership with private entities, including the South by South Lawn event; the concert entitled BET Presents: Love and Happiness: An Obama Celebration; as well as a Beyonce concert.”
The administration argued that “the historic precedent of Presidents erecting temporary fortifications … and Congress acquiescing to those activities” bolsters the legality of this weekend’s planned festivities.
The suit’s success doesn’t fully hinge on whether Judge Amit Mehta, the Obama appointee who is overseeing this emergency litigation in Washington, D.C., finds the historical comparisons compelling. That’s because the administration has raised several legal grounds on which Mehta can reject the suit, and it is likely that at least one of those grounds will succeed in defeating the effort and allowing the event to continue as planned, regardless of how corrupt it may be.
One of the challenges the plaintiffs face is whether they have legal standing to bring their case, meaning whether they are uniquely harmed in a way that a successful suit could remedy. (Otherwise, anyone could bring a lawsuit about anything against anyone.) Standing has also been contested in challenges to other recent executive actions, including the White House ballroom and the “anti-weaponization” fund.
The plaintiffs in the UFC case are activist Susan Douglas and Vietnam War veteran Paul Romano. They told Mehta that they “are suffering aesthetic injuries from the erection of ‘the Claw’ on the South Lawn” and that Douglas in particular “will suffer aesthetic injury if the UFC Freedom 250 weigh-ins are permitted to occur at the Lincoln Memorial.”
They said Douglas “regularly travels to the affected areas for protests and has specific plans to visit on four occasions between now and the conclusion of UFC Freedom 250, including on the nights of both the weigh-ins, June 13, and the June 14 fights.” They said Romano “has no choice but to see the offending aesthetics, as he must frequently travel through the area for work. He therefore has no choice but to observe the desecration of these sites.” They added that Romano in particular, being a Vietnam War veteran, suffers “the dignitary and emotional harms that come from national memorials being used for corrupt purposes.”
They also said the two of them would have submitted public comments had the “massive construction project” been submitted for environmental review, as required.
Their suit said the plan for the event “is for fighters to conduct the ceremonial weigh-ins and face-offs at the Lincoln Memorial, make pre-fight walkouts from the Oval Office, and do combat in a massive structure now under construction just steps from the Executive Residence.”
In its opposition filing, the administration said the plaintiffs “intend to seek out that which offends their sensibilities, just so they can complain about it. This contradicts the fundamental standing principle that injuries cannot be self-inflicted. … None of Plaintiffs’ alleged harms entitles them to an early stoppage of this weekend’s matches.”
The administration also said the last-minute nature of the suit should defeat the emergency request, calling the timing “inexcusable” because “these events were publicly announced almost a year ago; the dates were confirmed by the White House three months ago; and site preparations have been publicly visible for weeks.”