Kennedy family sues to stop Trump administration’s ostentatious Arlington arch
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
Nine members of the Kennedy family have gone to court to block a 250-foot gilded arch they say would impose a gaudy monument near their relatives’ graves in Arlington National Cemetery and deepen the insult to a site of national memory.
Nine members of the Kennedy family have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a federal judge to block a planned 250-foot gilded arch near Arlington National Cemetery. The complaint says the arch, topped with a winged figure reminiscent of Lady Liberty, would jar with the solemn landscape, obstruct the sightline to the Kennedy gravesites, and intrude on the experience of visitors to the memorial.
"A towering arch casting shadows across the graves of our father, mother, and uncles, as well as the graves of so many who have served our country, would also cast a shadow over our democratic principles," said plaintiffs Rory Kennedy and Maxwell Kennedy in a statement.
The family argues that the structure would permanently diminish the memorials and block the view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House, which were designed to face each other as symbols of national reunification after the Civil War. They say the National Park Service and the Interior Department pushed the project forward without the congressional approval required by law.
A federal judge previously ordered a 14-day pause on any construction work on the arch. The Justice Department has indicated that the project would not be completed until after the end of President Donald Trump's second term. The Kennedys are asking the court to overturn the authorization and stop construction entirely.