Trump's arch project halted by judge just hours after federal commission approves it

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan halted work on the Arch for two weeks so that the court can consider legality challenges. Those groups that sued to stop the construction included three Vietnam veterans, the D.C. government, the Commonwealth of Virginia and a historic preservationist, according to the Washington Post.

Chutkan wrote that the Trump administration is “enjoined from initiating, making or otherwise effectuating any construction, excavation, demolition, land-disturbance, utility installation, or roadway-closure activity, or any other construction-related activity at or near Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C., that is for the purpose of constructing an arch at Memorial Circle.”

The National Capital Planning Commission had given final approval earlier on Thursday evening after over eight hours of public testimony and debate. Construction was to have started immediately.

Mark Paoletta, chair of the committee and a White House official, stated, “I believe more than ever that this triumphal arch should be approved by this commission.”

Opponents said that the Arch would overshadow nearby Arlington cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, and that the current Congress had not authorized the project.

Stuart Levenback, the commission’s vice chairman, said, “This important site that we’re talking about is little more than a tired traffic circle. It’s a patch of grass, ringed by a curb,” adding, “the proposed arch would transform this place into a monumental gateway.”

D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, who is also on the Planning Commission, could not support the project due to conflicting information, and believed that the project violated federal laws. He said, “It is invalid to say this arch was authorized by Congress,” saying that a different plan of a pair of columns was envisioned by lawmakers a century ago, and thought that the project could slow emergency evacuation from Washington D.C.

The Trump administration said that the arch would complete the century-old vision for the Memorial Circle that Congress had authorized.