President Donald Trump’s dogged push to build his massive “triumphal arch” in Washington, D.C., hit a new legal roadblock, The Washington Post reports, as the disruptive project now faces a major court battle.
On Saturday, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia government jointly sued the Trump administration over the arch project, seeking to halt its construction. The suit argued that the arch, planned to be an enormous 250 feet fall, has been pushed forward on “flagrantly unlawful” grounds, and if completed, would forever alter the “landscape” of the U.S. capital city.
“The lawsuit is the latest attempt to stop the 250-foot-tall arch, which Trump hopes to build near Arlington National Cemetery and says will commemorate the nation’s 250th birthday,” the Post’s report detailed. “The administration would like to begin construction as soon as next week. The two jurisdictions are asking a federal judge to halt the plan and argue that they have ‘indisputable standing’ to bring their lawsuit because the towering arch would have tangible, negative effects on the region — an argument that distinguishes their lawsuit from others that have tried to stop Trump’s construction projects.”
The report continued: “D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) said the arch construction would cause ‘serious, immediate and irreparable harm to the District and its residents,’ while Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones (D) said ‘Trump’s illegal vanity project’ would be an affront to Arlington National Cemetery and the ‘extraordinary sacrifices it represents.””
“The Commonwealth has a solemn duty and a profound interest in preserving the dignity of this sacred place,” Jones said in a statement. “We will vigorously litigate to protect its sanctity and honor the legacy of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
As the report noted further, this suit is not the first legal battle that the arch has faced. A separate suit was filed by three Vietnam veterans and a “historic preservationist,” with a federal judge on Friday indicating that they might potentially side with them and block the project.
“The administration has acknowledged that the arch will unavoidably harm local historic sites by altering views, and that it will divert traffic and create loud noise during years of planned construction, among other disruptions,” the report added.
The administration has attempted to argue that the arch would also serve a “national security” function, an argument which, critics allege, Trump has become reliant on to try and force through his vanity projects. In a post to Truth Social, the president claimed that the arch could be used as a drone deployment location and a sniper’s nest, as well as a storage facility for ammunition.