A judge blocks construction of Trump's arch moments after it won federal approval
NPR · Rachel Treisman ·
The Trump administration hoped to begin construction immediately after a federal panel approved its arch late Thursday. But just after midnight, the judge issued an order blocking work for 14 days.
A federal judge blocked construction of President Trump's arch, stopping work the administration had hoped to begin immediately.
Just before midnight Friday, District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an order — finalized and made public minutes later - barring the government from any construction work for 14 days, granting a request filed days earlier by the governments of D.C. and Virginia.
She laid out her reasoning in a 33-page opinion, in which she scrutinized the administration's competing justifications for the arch — particularly its sudden emphasis on national security — and agreed that the local governments are likely to be harmed by its construction. The 250-foot arch would stand in Memorial Circle, a traffic island on the bridge linking the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery.