U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the work to stop, a major setback for one of the most important projects in President Donald Trump’s vision to reshape Washington.
Earlier Thursday, the government took a number of steps, including the National Capital Planning Commission’s final approval of the arch’s construction in an 8-4 vote during a 9.5-hour hearing in which dozens of witnesses opposed the arch’s construction.
Once approval is granted, the Interior Department issues a final decision authorizing construction, and the National Park Service issues appropriate notifications, work can begin, the government said.
“The harm is certain,” she wrote. “Defendants initially notified the court that if the NCPC approved the project at a meeting that day and the Interior Department authorized construction, construction could begin as early as November 5, 2026.” Virginia and Washington, D.C., warned in the filing that traffic patterns would be distorted and worried about the impact on mutual aid emergency calls if construction on the arch continued.
“Second, the region and the state of Virginia will incur substantial irrecoverable costs. Once construction begins, DDOT will need to expend staff time and operational resources to proactively manage temporary detours, collisions, or disabled vehicles,” Chutkan wrote.
The judge’s decision came more than an hour after a National Capital Planning Commission hearing ended. The commission’s vote broke federal and local lines. Supporters work for the government or have ties to the president who is pushing for immediate construction. Opponents represented the city of Washington.
The telephonic hearing failed repeatedly in its first hours and was accompanied by an almost universally negative comment section, drawing witnesses who made glowing comments against the arch, which they said would undermine the solemnity of nearby Arlington National Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of fallen service members and veterans are buried.
The National Capital Planning Commission voted 8-4 to approve the Trump Arch plan. News4’s Jackie Bensen breaks it down.
The Trump-appointed chair of the panel opened the meeting with gushing praise for the towering monument and praised Trump for wanting to build it.
“President Trump understands, as a president and as a great builder, that expressing who we are through magnificent monuments is important to our national identity,” said Mark Paoletta, chairman of the committee.
As Trump often says, “There are arches in big cities around the world: Paris, Rome, London,” said Pauletta, who also serves as general counsel for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Commissioner Paul Ingrassia, an attorney for the General Services Administration, said the arch “is not about politics. It’s about remembrance. It’s about celebrating our history. It’s about honoring veterans. It’s really a great tribute to our country and something that we can all rally behind.”
But Washington City Council President Phil Mendelson, a member of the planning panel, said the project has not yet received the approval it needs from Congress, and Congress has not allocated funds for it. Mendelson said the plans presented to the committee do not include the military uses mentioned by Trump and other administration officials.
The commission, which oversees construction on federal lands in the city, began reviewing the Arches plan in June.
The arch is one of several projects the Republican president has implemented around Washington as he reshapes the capital to his liking — from renovating one of the famed public golf courses to threatening to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The programs could soon face intense scrutiny after Democrats gained control of Congress in this week’s midterm elections.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., who will chair the House Natural Resources Committee, called the project ill-advised and illegal.
“This arch will bring shame to America,” Hoffman told the committee. He called the proposed arch a “homage to Donald Trump,” and not to veterans, as Trump administration officials claimed. The monument is similar to those built for emperors or kings, Hoffman said, adding that Trump used veterans as an excuse to build a monument to himself.
Other critics, including the plaintiffs, argue the Trump administration must seek congressional approval. The administration insists Congress cleared the way for a monument honoring the Circle decades ago.
Several members of the Planning Commission used that logic in approving the project. Paoletta said it was a “national disgrace” that there was no memorial arch despite a 1925 law designating such a monument.
Chatkan rejected that argument in his ruling: “The sheer impossibility that a 100-year-old statute containing the authority to erect a 250-foot-tall arch at a prime site in the nation’s capital, unknown to successive administrations, demonstrates how far the defendants had to go to justify this project.”
Rep. Don Beyer and Rep. James Walkinshaw joined veterans and protesters at the final hearing on President Trump’s plans for the Arc de Triomphe. News4’s Paul Wagner reports.
___
Associated Press photographer Nathan Elgren contributed to this report.