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Archive photoJudge Tonya Chutkan Temporarily Blocks Trump’s 250-Foot Triumphal Arch In Washington
6 Western Mainstream1 Local Western1 West AsianPhoto: National Park Service Digital Image Archives / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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Judge Tonya S. Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order halting construction for 14 days. The halt followed NCPC's 8-4 approval of the arch plan.
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Court Halts Construction
A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s proposed “triumphal arch” in Washington, D.C., just hours after the National Capital Planning Commission approved the project in an 8-4 vote.
D.C. District Court Judge Tonya S. Chutkan granted the D.C. and Virginia governments’ request for a temporary restraining order late Thursday, halting the Trump administration’s efforts to begin construction for at least 14 days.
The order barred any “construction-related activity” for 14 days while legal proceedings play out, and CBS News said Chutkan wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing the federal government did not follow required legal processes before moving to build the 250-foot triumphal arch.
The arch is planned to be constructed between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, and the White House said it was “confident” it would see the eventual completion of the project.
The National Capital Planning Commission’s vote followed almost 9 hours of public comments, and ABC7 New York said the Vietnam veteran leading the lawsuit called the project “frankly blasphemous.”
Competing Arguments at NCPC
Michael Lemmon, the Vietnam veteran who told the NCPC he served in the Army before a foreign service career, said the 250-foot arch would “profoundly disturb the peace and tranquility” owed to those buried at nearby Arlington National Cemetery.
Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, told the planning commission that it “would dishonor America, our ideals and our laws,” and he argued Congress is the appropriate body for debating the proposed monument.
NCPC Chair Mark Paoletta defended the project at the start of the meeting, saying, “President Trump's historic vision for a monumental arch at Memorial Circle would complete a project over a century in the making,” and he added it would “honor our nation and her veterans.”
Jimi Shaughnessy, a Marine veteran who spoke in opposition, said “a dominating arch with a carnival-like atmosphere of tourists, food trucks and buses is abhorrent and insulting,” while the NCPC voted 8-4 to greenlight the project.
The White House spokesman Davis Ingle criticized Chutkan’s order and said, “We are confident we will be fully vindicated as this litigation proceeds,” after the NCPC approved plans for the monument set to be constructed between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
What Comes Next
Chutkan’s 33-page ruling said D.C. and Virginia likely have standing to sue, and CBS News said she pointed to “tangible economic harms” caused by traffic problems at the construction site.
The Hill reported that Chutkan ordered the government to file a status report by Nov. 9 to certify compliance with the order, and the judge’s memorandum opinion said the harm is certain and the District and Virginia will incur significant unrecoverable costs.
The White House defended the project and Davis Ingle said the administration was “confident” it would be “fully vindicated,” while ABC7 New York said the judge ordered the administration to provide the court with at least 30 minutes’ notice before any work begins.
The National Park Service plans construction of the arch to take place 20 hours per day over the next two to three years, according to planning documents released earlier this year by the Interior Department, and ABC7 New York said the Justice Department told the court a contractor prematurely painted lines on the grounds.
The arch itself is described as 250 feet tall, and CBS News said documents filed with the NCPC described it as topped with “three gilded figures” and estimated it could draw between 2,000 and 22,400 visitors each day.