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Federal Judge Blocks Construction of Trump's Arch for 14 Days After Panel Approval
Judge Tanya Chutkan bars construction of Trump's arch for 14 days, hours after a federal planning panel approved it
Key points
- The 250-foot arch would stand on Memorial Circle, a traffic island on the bridge linking the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National
- The National Capital Planning Commission approved the arch in an 8-4 vote after nearly eight hours of public testimony.
- D.C. and Virginia argue the construction would cause financial and logistical disruptions, and Chutkan consolidated the lawsuits.
Why it matters. The 14-day pause means work the administration wanted to start immediately cannot begin for now, while legal challenges over whether Congress must approve the arch continue.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an order just before midnight Friday barring construction of President Trump's arch in D.C. for 14 days. The order grants a request from the D.C. and Virginia governments, and in a 33-page opinion Chutkan said the local governments are likely to be harmed by the construction. The 250-foot arch would stand in Memorial Circle, and administration officials have said work would run 20 hours a day, year-round, for two to three years.
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Federal Judge Blocks Construction of Trump's Arch for 14 Days After Panel Approval
A federal judge blocked construction of President Trump's proposed arch just after midnight, hours after a federal panel approved the structure. The Trump administration had hoped to begin work immediately following the panel's late Thursday vote. The judge's order halts work for 14 days. The panel had heard hours of testimony from concerned citizens before voting, and demonstrators gathered at Memorial Circle to protest the project. The order gives the court time to consider the legal challenge. Further hearings or a ruling will determine whether construction can proceed.