Military veterans launched a last-minute push to stop President Donald Trump's monumental arch, claiming a key approval is already a done deal.
On Thursday, three Vietnam War veterans and a retired architectural historian asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan for a preliminary injunction barring any construction of the 250-foot arch at Memorial Circle without congressional approval while the case plays out. The administration told the court a day earlier that work could start as soon as Nov. 5, and the plaintiffs are asking for a ruling by Nov. 4.
"Defendants' plans are unlawful; the threatened harm is imminent; and the public interest leans heavily against allowing Defendants to blaze ahead," attorneys with Public Citizen Litigation Group wrote in the filing.
The filing argues there's little suspense left in the planning commission's Nov. 5 vote. The plaintiffs point out that the commission's chairman, Mark Paoletta, recently wrote an article in The Federalist celebrating the arch and declaring he "will vote to approve this project." The filing accuses him of "regurgitating the administration's talking points."
"Approval by NCPC is not in question," the plaintiffs wrote. They also accused the administration of seeking sign-offs "from commissions populated by friends of the administration." The Washington Sun separately reported that the administration has replaced career officials serving as alternate commission members with political allies ahead of the vote.
The plaintiffs also note that the National Park Service's own review found the arch would significantly harm more than 40 historic sites, including Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. Without an injunction, they warned, the administration will be "sprinting past this Court."
The filing points to Trump's White House ballroom as a "cautionary tale." The Supreme Court let the project continue after lower courts found it unlawful, reasoning that halting a partially built structure would cause practical problems. The veterans argue that letting crews start on the arch would similarly render it "a fait accompli" before Chutkan rules.
The Trump administration's only claimed legal basis for the arch is a 1925 law authorizing Arlington Memorial Bridge, according to the filing, which calls the argument "entirely untethered from the Act's text."