Judge Blocks Trump's Washington Arch Minutes After Commission Approval

A federal judge temporarily blocked construction of President Trump's 250-foot arch in the nation's capital, intervening just hours after a federal planning commission granted the project final approval. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an order just before midnight Friday, halting work for 14 days at the request of the governments of Washington, D.C. and Virginia, according to NPR. Her ruling came less than two hours after a federal planning commission, packed with presidential allies, approved the arch in an 8-4 vote, NPR reported.

The arch is planned for Memorial Circle, a traffic island on the bridge that links the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, according to NPR. Trump administration officials have said work would take place 20 hours a day, year-round, for two to three years. In addition to questioning the arch's legality, D.C. and Virginia argue the construction would cause financial and logistical disruptions, per NPR.

The order follows two separate lawsuits. A group of Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian sued the government earlier this year, arguing that an arch cannot proceed without Congressional approval. The Democratic governments of D.C. and Virginia jointly filed a similar lawsuit last weekend, NPR reported. Trump-appointed commissioners countered that Congress already authorized the project when it approved a pair of 166-foot columns on Memorial Circle in 1925, columns that were never built.

Chutkan's 33-page opinion scrutinized the administration's justifications for the arch, particularly its sudden emphasis on national security, according to NPR. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have recently claimed the monument will enhance national security, even though officials at the commission meeting confirmed no such analysis was included in the final submission. Interior Department official Greg Wischer told the commission that "specific national security functions have been filed under seal" and said the National Park Service "has not been privy to any national defense preparations." The administration had previously told the court it could begin excavation work the same day the commission approved the arch, despite lacking authorization from Congress.

The commission meeting was held virtually because of the high volume of public testimony: 131 people were signed up to speak, according to NPR. Much of the testimony was personal. Many speakers had family members buried, or plans for their own future burials, at Arlington National Cemetery. Stephen Eubank told commissioners the testimony amounted to "warnings about the threat your own behavior poses to your political power, your moral authority, the legacy you leave to your descendants, and your eternal souls."

The most vocal criticism inside the meeting came from D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, who introduced a motion to postpone the vote until final site and building plans could be submitted. "We cannot approve final site and building plans until we have the final site and building plan," Mendelson said. His motion failed 4 to 8. Vice Chair Stuart Levenbach, a Trump appointee, pushed back on delaying the vote, saying the "project proponent is under a time constraint and wants the decision today," and suggesting the government wants to "commence building very quickly."

Arch critics look to the courts and Congress for relief

Many opponents see the arch as part of Trump's unilateral effort to memorialize himself in the nation's capital, and some described Democrats' midterm sweep as a referendum against it. "Leaving aside all of the legitimate concerns and challenges about the required approvals, funding, land use, single-source bidding, and peer review, the American people spoke this past Tuesday at the ballot box," Emi Yamauchi said, according to NPR. "They said enough vanity projects, enough corruption, enough Reflecting Pool travesties."

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., has introduced a bill that would prohibit and defund the arch, and he expects co-sponsors to grow from 80 to at least 200 in the new year. "While this decision prevents Donald Trump from immediately implementing his plans to create a monument to his own ego, the courts and Congress must put in place permanent safeguards to stop the Trump Administration from violating the law and proceeding with this project," Beyer said in a statement.

Brent Leggs, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, called the commission's vote a "sham." "It undermines the democratic process, violates federal statute, and insults our nation's veterans who have made the ultimate sacrifice," he said. "From the start, this Arch project has been driven by an artificial sense of urgency, while public opposition has been brushed aside."

Jimi Shaughnessy, veterans program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the organization is disappointed but not surprised, and vowed to "bring this to members of Congress, to ensure this arch is never built. Not here. Not ever."

Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, the consumer rights nonprofit representing the veterans in their lawsuit, told NPR on Thursday that Congress does not need to act to stop the arch, since it never actively approved it.

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, warned commissioners before the vote that companies and "officials working to advance a project not authorized by Congress will put themselves at legal risk," according to NPR. "I urge all officials and firms involved with this illegal project to consider the legal hazards they may be facing by advancing it," Huffman said, "because, in case you hadn't heard, we'll soon have a new Congress that takes the rule of law very seriously."