On the same Veterans Day that President Trump visits Arlington National Cemetery, members of the Kennedy family are in federal court trying to stop the 250-foot “triumphal” arch he wants to build just outside its gates.
Nine Kennedy family members filed a motion on Tuesday asking to join the existing lawsuits against the project before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. Their argument is personal and pointed: the towering structure would cast a shadow over the Kennedy gravesites and block the view of the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame.
Who is suing
The group includes Rory Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Courtney Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Joseph P. Kennedy II, all children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, along with Joseph P. Kennedy III, a grandson of Robert and Ethel, and Edward M. Kennedy Jr., son of Sen. Ted Kennedy. They are represented by Norm Eisen of the Democracy Defenders Fund.
They would join plaintiffs already in the case, including a group of Vietnam War veterans, the District of Columbia and Virginia.
What the family says the arch would do
In their filing, the family warns the arch would “obstruct the clear sightline of the Kennedy gravesites and JFK Eternal Flame in Arlington National Cemetery, from the Arlington Memorial Bridge, destroying an essential element of the gravesites’ design,” and “permanently cast a shadow over the graves of servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country, including the Kennedy gravesites.”
President Kennedy is one of only two presidents buried at Arlington, alongside William Howard Taft. Robert F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy are buried there too. According to the complaint, the shadow would fall on the Kennedy graves especially in the early morning, when the family traditionally visits.
The complaint also says the arch would stand more than twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial and would cut between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House, which were designed to face each other as a symbol of the nation reuniting after the Civil War.
Construction is on hold, for now
Judge Chutkan issued a 14-day temporary restraining order last week blocking any construction at Memorial Circle, the site between the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. That came the same day the National Capital Planning Commission, dominated by Trump appointees, voted 8-4 to give the arch final approval after a marathon hearing where about 130 people signed up to testify against it.
The family’s complaint argues the National Park Service and Interior Department authorized construction without the congressional approval it requires, and asks the court to set that authorization aside.
The administration is not backing down. Planning commission chairman Mark Paoletta has said the arch would “honor our nation and her veterans” and give Arlington “the monumental gateway it deserves.” The Washington Post reports Trump is poised to start building the moment the court order lifts, possibly with his slogan “Golden Age of America” on the structure.
Why it matters today
The arch has become a flashpoint over how far Trump will go to remake Washington in his image, from the White House ballroom to his push to put his name on the Kennedy Center. Now the family of the president whose grave sits beneath that proposed shadow is asking a judge to say no, and an incoming Congress has vowed to fight his projects too.
Should a 250-foot monument be allowed to loom over the graves of America’s fallen? Tell us what you think.