A group of three military veterans and a historical preservationist filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s proposed 250-foot arch that opponents contend would mar the views from Arlington National Cemetery to other monuments around Washington, D.C.
At 250 feet, the arch would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial. And at its proposed location on the bank of the Potomac River, the so-called Independence Arch would blight “the symbolic and inspiring view” from the hallowed Arlington National Cemetery across the water in Virginia, according to the suit filed on behalf of veterans Michael Lemmon, Shaun Byrnes, and Jon Gundersen as well as Calder Loth, a retired senior architectural historian for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
As reported by The Washington Post, “Public Citizen, a government watchdog organization, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and is seeking to halt the project until the Trump administration secures approval from Congress and federal review panels.” The paper noted that federal review panels have yet to receive proposals for the arch, and Congress has not signed off on its construction.
But “in their lawsuit on Thursday, the military veterans and Loth said they were also turning to the court because they did not believe the Trump administration would wait for congressional approval or seek to comply with other federal requirements before attempting to build the arch,” according to the Post, which noted that an Economist/YouGov poll conducted this month found that only 21 percent of adult citizens approve of the arch while 52 percent oppose it. Plans for the monumental arch were unveiled last fall at a White House dinner for donors who had contributed to Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom.
The three veterans of Vietnam War worked later as diplomats and told the court they hope to be put to rest in Arlington National Cemetery when they die. As the lawsuit states, “They believe that the planned Arch … would dishonor their military and Foreign Service and the legacy of their comrades and other veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and would degrade their personal experience when visiting Arlington Cemetery or traveling around Memorial Circle and on the Memorial Avenue Corridor.”
