Kennedy family members join legal fight over Trump’s arch

The Kennedy family has jumped into a legal battle against President Trump’s proposed arch.

In a Monday court filing in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, members of the Kennedy family requested that the court bar the Trump administration “from taking any steps to approve, authorize, or construct the Arch absent congressional authorization, designation by Congress of a sponsor, and compliance with all statutory requirements.”

“President Donald J. Trump is attempting to unlawfully erect a massive arch that will permanently cast shadows over and damage historically significant sightlines to the existing gravesites and memorials established in the Kennedy family’s honor at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as to the memorials of hundreds of thousands of fallen American heroes,” the filing reads.

Last Thursday, a federal judge ordered a pause on the construction of Trump’s triumphal arch for two weeks.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s temporary restraining order followed shortly after the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) voted in favor of the administration’s plans to erect the arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The motion passed with an 8-4 vote following over 100 public remarks, the majority against the arch, in a meeting that lasted nine hours.

The president’s planned arch would be similar to arches in other cities, like Paris’s Arc de Triomphe.

Washington, D.C. and Virginia sued the National Parks Service and Interior Department late last month to stop Trump’s arch. The District and the Old Dominion referred to the arch as “flagrantly unlawful” due to the president not seeking congressional approval for the project’s construction.

“In their rush to break ground on the Arch, Defendants have made only half-hearted gestures at complying with these requirements,” the Virginia and D.C. lawsuit reads.

The Hill has reached out to the White House and Interior Department for comment.