Yesterday afternoon Trump's plan for a triumphal arch was given final approval by a federal commission in an 8-4 vote. Trump had said he planned to move forward with construction almost immediately after the arch was approved.
A federal panel led by President Trump’s allies on Thursday issued final approval for his planned 250-foot triumphal arch, allowing a blitz of construction that the Trump administration has said could begin almost immediately after the vote...
About 130 people signed up to testify Thursday during a marathon session before the commission, which has received almost uniformly negative responses about the arch. Many argued that it would detract from the solemn atmosphere of the nearby Arlington National Cemetery.
“The arch’s brutal and insensitive size detracts from the modest reflection of love, remembrance and selflessness the existing memorials encourage,” testified Joseph Zengerle, a West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran. “And the arch would forever bring to mind the evident rationale for its construction: President Trump’s exercise of his desire to memorialize himself.”...
The commission’s vote on Thursday marked the final review step for the project. The administration has said in court that construction could start the same day.
Approval was granted, but there was a catch. Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee, recently heard a case brought by a small group of veterans seeking to block construction. As I described here, these veterans almost certainly have no standing to complain that they don't like the look of a public memorial. That same issue went to the Supreme Court two months ago with regard to the ballroom being built at the White House and the Supreme Court said it would not fly.
But Judge Chutkan clearly didn't care much about that. Last week, she argued that maybe SCOTUS would feel differently this time.
The Supreme Court in August ruled 5-4 that a historic preservationist likely could not prove that she would be harmed by construction of the ballroom and therefore lacked legal grounds to sue. That ruling cleared the way for Trump’s ballroom to continue.
“It’s the same thing,” Stander said.
Chutkan drew a distinction between the two cases, noting that in the ballroom litigation, a preservationist said she routinely walked past the White House, while in the current case, veterans have said their experience of viewing and visiting the military cemetery would be altered by the towering arch nearby.
It's the same thing, but she doesn't care. She even allowed one of the plaintiffs in the case to give a little speech in court.
In what she acknowledged as an unusual move, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan allowed Lemmon to give a short testimony as she considered whether to stop construction of President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot arch, which will obstruct the line of sight between the National Mall and the cemetery. Those hearings are usually limited to arguments from lawyers and questions from the presiding judge.
After hearing all this, Judge Chutkan promised to render a decision last weekend. In fact, she waited until last night. Hours after the federal commission approved it, Judge Chutkan shut it down, for at least the next two weeks.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a two-week restraining order late Thursday, barring any construction activity related to the arch while litigation brought by Washington, D.C., Virginia and a preservation group is pending. Chutkan did not immediately indicate the basis for her ruling but said a fuller opinion would be issued soon...
Chutkan signaled last week that she was skeptical of the administration’s rush to begin construction while litigation was underway. But she also said she was uncertain whether the veterans suing over the construction had standing.
The vets do not have standing to challenge this but Judge Chutkan combined that with another case brought by Virginia and Washington, D.C., both of whom said the construction would create added costs related to traffic.
In a 33-page opinion, Judge Chutkan said the arch required congressional approval and that its construction could prove costly to both Virginia and the District of Columbia while disrupting traffic at the Arlington cemetery, one of the region’s most-visited sites...
Last week, a separate suit brought by the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia introduced more concrete harms: They said the project would clog traffic, disrupt emergency responses, threaten the environment and require them to spend resources addressing those problems.
This is all about stopping Trump from building something. That's all it is. The rejection of this plan isn't about the building it's about him. All of the objections are based on that premise. Luckily, they found a ringer of a judge who is willing to entertain this nonsense and thereby delay the start of construction long enough for the newly elected Democrats to take over Congress. This is Calvinball being played by partisans, but in this case the Democrats might succeed.
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