Follow-Up: Three Vietnam Veterans Ask Judge to Block Trump's 250-Foot Triumphal Arch, Saying Congress Never Approved It as Park Service Eyes Nov. 5 Start
Three Vietnam War veterans and a retired architectural historian on October 22 asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., for a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump administration from building a 250-foot (76-meter) triumphal arch at Memorial Circle along the Potomac River without congressional approval, the Associated Press reported. The filing came one day after the National Park Service told the court that construction could begin as early as November 5.
The plaintiffs asked Chutkan to prohibit the administration and the National Park Service "from taking any steps to construct, or to direct or facilitate construction of, any structure in Memorial Circle, absent congressional authorization, during the pendency of this litigation," and asked the court to rule no later than November 4, one day before the earliest construction date given by the government.
In a notice filed October 21, the National Park Service and the Executive Office of the President said they planned to possibly begin construction as early as November 5, pending final approval of the site and building plans by the National Capital Planning Commission, which is scheduled to meet that day. Construction could begin once that approval was finished, the Interior Department issued a final decision authorizing construction and the proper notification was published, the notice said: "NPS may publish such notice as early as November 5, 2026, and construction could commence as early as November 5, 2026."
The plaintiffs' filing said the notification "makes clear that the defendants have no intention of awaiting this court's decision on the cross-motions for summary judgment and have every intention of imminently beginning construction of the arch on Memorial Circle." The veterans sued in February, arguing the project must be approved by Congress. The administration argues that the 1925 law signed by President Calvin Coolidge providing for construction of Memorial Bridge also authorizes the arch, because the initial plan called for columns at the end of the bridge; the plaintiffs call that reading "entirely untethered" from the text of the 1925 law. Chutkan had previously ordered the government to give at least 14 days' notice before starting work, and she ordered the two sides to meet and file a briefing schedule by noon on October 23.
The arch has received early approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were all appointed by President Donald Trump. The Public Citizen Litigation Group, one of the legal groups representing the plaintiffs, cited several other projects pursued by the administration that had moved forward with work despite pending lawsuits.
The arch is one of several projects Trump has undertaken as he remakes Washington. GSM reported on October 20 that the Interior Department had submitted final plans for the 250-foot arch, topped by an eternal flame, with planning commission review set for November 5. Trump has said the arch might also include national security functions such as drones and snipers; plans submitted by the Interior Department do not mention the "military complex" he has described, although the agency said the plan could accommodate such a feature.
The Washington lawsuit is one of two challenging construction of the arch. The Arlington County Board in Virginia filed suit earlier this month in the Eastern District of Virginia, becoming the first governmental body to take legal action against the planned monument; that suit criticized the speed at which the project has moved without going through the full review process. The administration disputed that claim.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Arlington Memorial Bridge东端的「战争艺术」雕像群，凯旋门拟建于该桥西端Memorial Circle一带（资料图，1989年）。图片：Jet Lowe，美国国家公园管理局历史美国工程记录（HAER）档案，公共领域（Wikimedia Commons）。Photo: The Arts of War statues at the eastern end of Arlington Memorial Bridge; the arch is planned for Memorial Circle at the bridge's Virginia end (file photo, 1989). Credit: Jet Lowe, Historic American Engineering Record / National Park Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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