The Kennedy family sued to block the construction of President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot arch in Memorial Circle, arguing that the monument “constitutes nothing less than a permanent denigration of the Kennedy Gravesites” in Arlington National Cemetery.
President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, alongside many other high-profile political figures and decorated veterans, have gravesites marked with memorials in the cemetery. Kennedy family members, including former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, sued Trump and other members of his administration on Tuesday, citing a lack of congressional approval for what they call an “unlawful construction project.”
“The Arch will also obstruct the clear sightline of the Kennedy Gravesites and the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame, in Arlington National Cemetery, from the Arlington Memorial Bridge, destroying an essential element of the Gravesites’ design; and, according to a forensic study, the Arch will permanently cast a shadow over the Kennedy Gravesites and the graves of servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country,” the lawsuit says.
Nine members of the Kennedy family are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including several of Robert F. Kennedy’s children. Family attorneys argued that Kennedy relatives had often been “comforted by the fact that their fathers and uncles loved that view” of Washington from across the Potomac River, which can be seen from their burial plots.
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“They have always believed that these remembrances would remain a permanent part of the nation’s capital,” the attorneys state.
This new lawsuit is one of several court challenges to the construction of Trump’s “triumphal arch.” A federal judge temporarily halted construction in a separate case on Nov. 5, hours after the Trump administration had received a notice of approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, which is stacked with the president’s allies.
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