A Virginia county on Thursday filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s proposed new monument in Washington, D.C., marking the latest opposition to the soaring Triumphal Arch.
Trump is looking to construct the Arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, in honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary. The monument has already cleared most regulatory hurdles, but faces a final vote of approval from the National Capital Planning Commission on Nov. 5.
(Harrison Design/U.S. Commission of Fine Arts)
Arlington County, which owns the land around the proposed monument, sued Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron to block the project in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, arguing the National Park Service improperly sped up the approval process, bypassing sufficient analysis and reviews. The lawsuit particularly challenged NPS’s move to rely on an Environmental Assessment instead of the more stringent full Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act, as it reviewed the arch.
“The National Park Service, the agency responsible for projects on national park land such as Memorial Circle, is proceeding full-speed toward ground-disturbing construction,” the lawsuit read. “Although the agency has claimed that a final decision to construct the Arch has not yet been made and purports to be engaged in a routine decisional process, that rushed process appears to be a pretext designed to shore up justifications for building the Arch in accordance with the President’s repeated marching orders.”
The county is seeking to halt construction until the Environmental Impact Statement is completed, alleging there are outstanding concerns that the project would cause more traffic congestion on roads needed for emergency transport and commuters going to Arlington National Cemetery and Reagan National Airport. In addition, officials claimed that having a military complex included in the arch, which Trump floated in late September, would “dramatically worsen these public-safety harms and the risk of accidents.”
“We have diligently and in good faith engaged in the review process, pointing out severe, unique, and wide-ranging negative impacts to the county and our residents,” Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said. “Despite these concerns and that process not being complete, it was recently, unilaterally, announced that the project will move forward anyway — entirely disregarding protocol and months of work. Enough is enough. We will do all we can to hold this administration accountable and to protect and serve the best interests of our community.”
The lawsuit marks the latest opposition to Trump’s arch, after it faced another legal challenge earlier this year from disgruntled veterans worried the soaring structure would disrupt historic views in the D.C. skyline, disrespecting military heroes buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The main structure’s height is around 160 feet, but rises to 250 feet when accounting for a soaring gold-winged figure and two eagles atop the arch.
TRUMP ARCH COULD TAKE UP TO THREE YEARS AND 20 HOURS OF CONSTRUCTION PER DAY
Democrats have raised additional fears that the structure could threaten D.C.’s already complex airspace. The capital city is known for its tight air traffic and was the site of the deadliest crash in the U.S. in years in January 2025, when two aircraft collided over the Potomac River, killing all 67 people on board.
In June, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) urged the FAA to “be firm in rejecting any improper or irresponsible pressure from President Trump to prioritize the construction of his gaudy, vanity arch over the safety of the American people.”