Washington- A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from beginning construction on President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch Thursday night, siding — for now — with a group of veterans from Vietnam and the District of Columbia and Virginia, who filed a lawsuit to stop the project.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the government cannot start any “construction-related activities” for 14 days while further legal proceedings take place. In a 33-page ruling, Chutkan wrote that the plaintiffs would likely succeed in demonstrating that the federal government failed to follow required legal procedures before building the 250-foot triumphal arch. She also said Virginia and D.C. likely had standing to sue, pointing to the “tangible economic harm” caused by traffic problems at the construction site.
The decision came shortly after the National Capital Planning Commission voted Thursday evening to approve plans for the arch, giving the final go-ahead for construction of the monument to be built between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
The NCPC, which serves as the federal government’s planning agency for the region and counts Trump among its allies, voted 8-4 to greenlight the project after nearly 9 hours of public comment from members of Congress, veterans, architects and residents of Washington, D.C. and Virginia.
Aside from Chutkan’s order, it’s unclear when construction of the arch might begin, although the Justice Department said in a court filing last month that it could begin as early as Thursday.
In a separate filing Wednesday evening, the Trump administration said a construction company “may — but need not — arrange off-site preparations for mobilizing construction in anticipation of permit approval” at the site.
Before the meeting, NCPC Executive Director Mark Paoletta recommended approval of the final site and construction plans for the structure, meant to celebrate 250 years of American independence.
Paoletta, the chief counsel for the Office of Management and Budget, praised Mr. Trump’s “historic vision” for the structure and said it would be “the greatest arch ever built by mankind.”
But California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said during the hearing that the arch was “illegal” and would “disrupt the solemn connection” between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
“This arch would dishonor America, our ideals and our laws,” Huffman said during a speech before the planning commission, adding that Congress is the appropriate body to debate the proposed monument.
A Marine veteran who spoke against the proposal, Jimi Shaughnessy, said “a dominant arch with a carnival atmosphere of tourists, food trucks and buses is abhorrent and insulting to those who gave their all and to their families.”
“Instead of focusing on the issues facing military families, this administration intends to spend taxpayer dollars to site, plan and design a monument that no one asked for, and is content to skirt any laws or regulations that might prevent them from innovating,” he said.
The arch itself will be 166 feet tall and will be topped by “three golden figures” — a gold winged female figure flanked by a gold flying eagle on each side — bringing its total height to 250 feet, according to documents filed with the NCPC. The structure will be located near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, although the Federal Aviation Administration has determined that it will pose “no hazard to air navigation,” with “a safety lighting requirement including a non-standard eternal flame and continuous illumination.”
The arch will also feature an observation deck, and the Trump administration has estimated it could attract between 2,000 and 22,400 visitors each day.
It is expected to take three years to build the arch, which will be located in the center of what is called Memorial Circle, across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial. It’s unclear how much the project will cost or who will foot the bill.
Mr. Trump said in September that his “Arc de Triomphe” would be a “premier military complex” and house drones and sniper munitions. But the NCPC documents do not include military use.
Justice Department lawyers declined to provide more details about the national security elements at a hearing in October.
The commission received more than 1,300 public comments on the project, most of which were opposed, it said.
The NCPC’s approval comes as Chutkan considers how to act. A group of Vietnam War veterans, along with the Commonwealth of Virginia and the city of Washington, D.C., filed suit, arguing that the Trump administration is acting without congressional authorization and not following required procedures to build the monument.
In an order issued on Tuesday, Chutkan asked the government to provide him with one hour’s notice after any NCPC vote and thirty minutes’ notice for any preparations for the construction of the arch to give him time to make a decision on whether to block construction.
The government filed the required notices Thursday evening, and Chutkan responded by issuing a temporary restraining order that blocked “construction, excavation, demolition, land disturbance, installation of utilities or road closures, or any other construction-related activities” at the site.
At a hearing last month, Chutkan said the most important question to her was whether Vietnam War veterans had the legal right to sue. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that a group of plaintiffs who had filed a similar suit to block construction of the White House Ballroom probably had no legal status to contest the project.
In court filings, the Justice Department called the plaintiffs’ motions “breathtaking” and urged Chutkan to follow the guidelines. of the Supreme Court decision in the White House Ballroom But lawyers for the plaintiff groups argued that their legal arguments were different from those in the ballroom case and urged Chutkan to stop construction of the arch.
Two of the plaintiffs, Vietnam veterans Michael Lemmon and Shaun Byrnes, told Chutkan at a hearing last month that the construction of the arch would impact their experience visiting graves at Arlington National Cemetery, and said they would be harmed by the size and purpose of the arch.
In a separate lawsuit filed in late October, Virginia and the District of Columbia sued, and the case was assigned to Chutkan, who had heard arguments from the Vietnam veterans group the day before. The state’s attorneys general argued that “once Defendants proceed with this project, they will inflict irreparable harm on them” because “the Arch Project will inevitably impede traffic between jurisdictions, produce pollution and stormwater runoff into the Potomac, interfere with emergency services, and pose numerous other challenges.”
Gn usa
