President John F. Kennedy the family continued Tuesday block the president that of Donald Trump triumphal arch saying the giant structure would cast a shadow over the Kennedy family memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, obstruct its sight lines and destroy its “solemn and sacred” atmosphere.
“In visiting the gravesites and the Lincoln Memorial, Plaintiffs pray and reflect on the relationship between the Lincoln Memorial, the Kennedy Gravesites, and the Eternal Flame, finding comfort in seeing the Kennedy family legacy spatially commemorated and instantiated in the District of Columbia. They always believed that these memories would remain a permanent part of the nation’s capital,” the nine family members argued in a filing with the U.S. District Judge. Tanya Chutkan . “The Ark would fundamentally disrupt this intended relationship.”
Chutkan, appointed by Obama, has already arch construction temporarily blocked which the Trump administration had planned starting last week. But she envisages a longer-term blocking of the project. The involvement of the Kennedy family, represented by Trump’s longtime opponent Norm Eisen is a new twist in the legal saga.
The proposed arch has already been the subject of lawsuits from several veterans who said it would disrupt visits to Washington to pay tribute to their fallen comrades, particularly taking exception to the viewing platform that would allow tourists to peer into the cemetery. The governments of Virginia and Washington, D.C., also sued, saying building an arch would cause years of disruption and costs.
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