Judge Blocks Trump's 250-Foot Arch Hours After Planning Panel Approves It

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from breaking ground on a 250-foot memorial arch near Arlington National Cemetery, issuing the order within hours of a federal planning commission giving the project its final approval.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order that bars the National Park Service from any construction-related activity on the arch for 14 days. She also ordered the government to file a status report the following Monday to show it is complying. "The harm is certain," Chutkan wrote, saying Virginia and the District of Columbia had shown that construction would cause real injury.

The two jurisdictions, which sued to stop the project, say building the arch would force traffic detours and could interfere with mutual-aid emergency calls. They also cite what they describe as high, unrecoverable costs, including the staff time and resources the District's transportation department would spend managing detours, crashes and disabled vehicles near the site.

The National Capital Planning Commission approved the project by an 8-4 vote after a hearing that ran about nine and a half hours. The vote split along federal and local lines. The commission began reviewing the plan in June, and the remote, call-in hearing crashed repeatedly and drew mostly negative public comment.

Commission chairman Mark Paoletta, who is also general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget, praised the project and called it a "national disgrace" that no memorial arch had been built, citing a 1925 law that designated such a memorial. Commissioner Paul Ingrassia, a General Services Administration lawyer, said the arch was "not about politics. It's about remembrance." The administration argues that Congress cleared the way for a monument at Memorial Circle decades ago and that work can begin once the commission approves and the Interior Department authorizes construction.

Chutkan was not persuaded by the 1925 argument. She called it highly improbable that a 100-year-old statute contains authority, unknown to every previous administration, to erect a 250-foot arch. In April the government had agreed under a consent order to give 14 days' notice before starting construction, and in September the judge reinforced an order barring immediate work on the site.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who sits on the planning commission, said the project lacks required congressional approval and appropriated funds, and that the plan does not mention the military use that Trump and other officials have cited. "We cannot approve final site and building plans until we have the final site and building plans," he said. Witnesses at the hearing also argued the arch would undercut the solemnity of nearby Arlington National Cemetery.

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, who is set to chair the House Natural Resources Committee when Democrats take control of the chamber, called the project ill-advised and illegal. He said it "would dishonor America" and described it as a tribute to Trump rather than to veterans.

The arch is one of several Trump building projects in Washington, along with the renovation of a public golf course, a White House ballroom built after the East Wing was demolished, and threats to tear down the Kennedy Center. Democrats' gains in Tuesday's midterm elections could bring all of them under closer congressional scrutiny. The restraining order lasts 14 days, and the court has not yet ruled on whether to extend it.