Federal judge orders 14-day delay on any work beginning on Trump's
monumental arch
[November 06, 2026]
By MATTHEW DALY and GARY FIELDS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge late Thursday blocked the Trump
administration from breaking ground on a towering memorial arch for 14
days.
The temporary restraining order by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan
halting the work represents a major setback for one of President Donald
Trump’s most prominent projects in his vision to remake Washington.
The decision followed a series of steps taken earlier Thursday by the
government, including the final approval of the arch by the National
Capital Planning Commission in an 8-4 vote after a 9 ½ hour hearing
where scores of witnesses opposed the construction.
The administration said the work could begin as soon as the approval and
the Interior Department issued a final decision authorizing construction
and the proper notification was published by the National Park Service.
In approving the temporary stop, Chutkan said Virginia and the District
of Columbia had shown that the immediacy of the construction would cause
real harm to the plaintiffs.
“The harm is certain," she wrote. "Defendants initially notified the
court that construction could begin as early as November 5, 2026, if the
NCPC approves the project at its meeting that day and the Department of
the Interior authorizes construction.” In their filing, Virginia and
D.C. warned of traffic pattern distortions as well as concerns about the
impact on mutual aid emergency calls if the arch were to proceed.
“Second, the District and Virginia will incur significant unrecoverable
costs. As soon as construction begins, DDOT will need to expend staff
time and operating resources to affirmatively and proactively manage
temporary detours, crashes or disabled vehicles,” Chutkan wrote.
The judge ordered the government to provide a status report next Monday
to ensure they are complying with the order.
The judge's decision came just over an hour after the National Capital
Planning Commission hearing ended. The vote by the commission broke
along federal and local lines. Those in favor work for the
administration or are connected to the president, who was pushing for
the immediate construction. Opponents represented the city of
Washington.
The remote, call-in hearing — which crashed repeatedly in the first few
hours and was accompanied by a nearly universally negative comment
section — drew witnesses who gave impassioned comments opposing an arch
they said will destroy the solemnity of the nearby Arlington National
Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of fallen service members and
military veterans are buried.
The panel's Trump-appointed chairman launched the meeting with a gushing
appraisal of the towering monument and lauded Trump for wanting to build
it.
“President Trump understands as president and a superb builder that it’s
important to our national identity to display who we are through grand
monuments,” said Mark Paoletta, the commission's chairman.
As Trump has often remarked, “the great cities around the world have
arches: Paris, Rome, London,” said Paoletta, who also serves as general
counsel for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
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People attend a protest near Memorial Circle, the proposed site for
a Triumphal Arch, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Arlington, Va. (AP
Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Commissioner Paul Ingrassia, a lawyer for the General Services
Administration, said the arch was “not about politics. It’s about
remembrance. It’s about celebrating our history. It’s about
commemorating veterans. And it’s really something that’s a noble
tribute to our nation and something that we can all rally behind.”
But D.C. City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who also serves on
the planning panel, said the project has not received required
approval from Congress, nor has Congress appropriated any money for
it. The plan submitted to the commission does not include a
reference to military use cited by Trump and other administration
officials, Mendelson said.
“We cannot approve final site and building plans until we have the
final site and building plans,” he said.
The commission oversees construction on federal land in the city and
began reviewing the arch plan in June.
The arch is one of several projects around Washington that the
Republican president has undertaken as he alters the capital to his
tastes — from renovating one of its storied public golf courses to
threatening to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts. Those projects could soon face intense scrutiny
after Democrats gained control of Congress in the midterm elections
this week.
Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat who is set to chair the
House Natural Resources Committee, called the project ill-advised
and illegal.
“This arch would dishonor America,” Huffman told the commission. He
called the proposed arch “a tribute to Donald Trump,” not veterans
as Trump administration officials claim. The monument is similar to
those built for emperors or kings, Huffman said, adding that Trump
was using veterans as a pretext to build a memorial to himself.
Other critics, including the plaintiffs, argue that the Trump
administration must seek congressional approval. The administration
maintains that Congress cleared the way for a monument at Memorial
Circle decades ago.
Several members of the Planning Commission used that logic in
approving the project. Paoletta said it was a “national disgrace”
that a memorial arch had not been placed there, despite a 1925 law
that designated such a memorial, he said.
Chutkan rejected that argument in her ruling: "The sheer
improbability that a 100-year-old statute would contain authority,
unknown to every previous administration, to erect a 250-foot arch
at a principal location in the Nation’s capital indicates how far
defendants must stretch to justify this project."
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Associated Press videographer Nathan Ellgren contributed to this
report.
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