The District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia sued the Trump administration on Saturday to stop construction of the 250-foot “triumphal arch” President Donald Trump wants to build near Arlington National Cemetery, a project the administration says will be a major tourist attraction and an asset for national security.
The two governments filed suit in federal court in Washington against the National Park Service and the Interior Department and asked a judge to bar any site preparation or construction, Axios reported, citing a filing first reported by The Washington Post.
“This project is flagrantly unlawful,” the filing says. “During the three-year period of construction, the Arch project will inevitably snarl traffic between the jurisdictions, produce pollution and stormwater runoff in the Potomac, interfere with emergency services, and pose numerous other challenges.” The plaintiffs also argue the agencies rushed the project without proper consultations.
The administration’s case
The administration has argued the arch will draw visitors and serve as a base for defending the capital. In court filings this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the arch “a generational national defense opportunity,” and he and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in sworn declarations that the military and Secret Service could use the structure to defend against drone attacks and other threats, CBS News reported. The government has said the arch would host between 2,000 and 22,000 tourists a day. Trump said on Truth Social in September that he had converted the plans to make the arch, in part, a “top grade Military Complex.”
The Federal Aviation Administration determined that the arch would not pose a hazard to flights at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The Park Service’s own August report found the construction would have adverse effects on nearby monuments and landmarks, Axios reported.
The White House was not immediately available to comment Saturday on the new suit, according to Axios.
A judge’s skepticism
The suit lands a day after U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan heard arguments in a separate challenge brought by three Vietnam veterans and a historian. Justice Department attorney Robert Stander called the arch a “high-priority project” and urged Chutkan to dismiss the case, arguing the plaintiffs lacked standing under a Supreme Court ruling in the challenge to the White House ballroom.
Chutkan pressed the government on funding and timing. “I don’t even know who is paying for this thing,” she said, and questioned what harm a delay would cause “apart from the executive’s desire to bedazzle the city,” CBS News reported. Plaintiff Michael Lemmon, a Vietnam veteran, called the idea of the arch as a tourist attraction outside the cemetery “almost blasphemous.”
According to Justice Department filings, construction could begin as soon as Nov. 5 if the National Capital Planning Commission grants final approval that day. Arlington County has filed its own suit in federal court in Virginia seeking an environmental review.
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