By Nigeria Magazine
Washington — A federal judge has blocked construction of President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington, just within an hour of it receiving its final planning approval.
The National Capital Planning Commission voted 8-4 late on Thursday, 5 November, to approve the project after more than eight hours of public testimony from over 120 citizens, many of them veterans, who lined up to oppose it. The administration had said it might begin construction immediately after that vote.
Within an hour, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted a 14-day temporary restraining order sought by the District of Columbia and Virginia, barring the administration from initiating, making or otherwise effectuating any construction-related activity near the proposed site. That includes construction, excavation, demolition, land-disturbing work, utility installation and roadway closures at Memorial Circle on Columbus Island.
The arch would stand 250 feet tall, or 76 metres, which is eight feet taller than Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, and 166 feet wide with a 55-foot-wide central opening. It would feature gilded sculptures on top, including a central golden figure, and would sit on a highway roundabout near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. The cost is reported as up to a quarter of a billion dollars, and it would include six stairways, five elevators and an observation deck.
The legal fight is about authority, not just design. Opponents, including veterans, preservationists, and the attorneys general of DC and Virginia, argue the project is illegal because it does not have approval from Congress, pointing to the Commemorative Works Act which requires congressional authorization for new monuments in Washington. The administration has argued it is permissible under federal law, and has at different times framed it as a monument for the nation’s 250th anniversary and as serving an important national security purpose.
Judge Chutkan found in her 33-page opinion that DC and Virginia are likely to succeed in arguing the project requires that approval, and that they are likely to be harmed as soon as construction begins, in part because traffic disruptions would occur immediately. She ordered the defendants to notify employees, contractors and subcontractors that construction is prohibited, and to update the court by 9 November on those notification efforts.
The block is temporary, for 14 days, while the court considers whether to block construction for the duration of the litigation. It does not kill the project outright, but it stops the administration’s plan to start excavation work immediately and to complete the arch before Trump leaves office.
