Kennedy family members join lawsuit to block Trump’s triumphal arch

Several members of the Kennedy family have joined the legal battle to prevent President Trump from building a large triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. 

In court filings Tuesday, nine members of the famous family — including several children and grandchildren of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy — argued the 250-foot-tall arch would block the sightlines of the Kennedy family’s gravesites and the “Eternal Flame” commemorating President John F. Kennedy. The three brothers — Robert F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy and John F. Kennedy — are buried at Arlington. 

The family members wrote that the project will “permanently cast a shadow over the graves of servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country, including the Kennedy Gravesites.”

The family members are seeking to intervene as plaintiffs in a lawsuit opposing the arch from the city of Washington, D.C., and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Several Vietnam War veterans are also suing the Trump administration over the arch.

“Americans from every corner of the country visit Arlington to honor those who served and sacrificed for our nation,” Rory Kennedy and Maxwell Kennedy said in a statement on the lawsuit. “A towering arch casting shadows across the graves of our father, mother, and uncles, as well as the graves of so many who have served our country, would also cast a shadow over our democratic principles, undermining the safeguards established by our elected representatives to protect this hallowed ground for generations to come.”

The proposed arch — slated for a traffic circle across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. — is part of a slew of construction projects in and around the nation’s capital that Mr. Trump has personally pushed for. His administration says the arch would commemorate 250 years of American independence. It sought to break ground as early as this month.

But the project has drawn stiff pushback from local officials, congressional Democrats and some veterans and others with an interest in Arlington National Cemetery. Opponents argue the Trump administration did not follow the proper legal processes to build the arch, and warn it would block the sightlines between the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which is stacked with Trump allies, voted to approve plans for the arch last week. But U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan quickly blocked the government from starting any “construction-related activity” for 14 days, finding the plan is likely illegal. The plaintiffs have asked the court for a longer-term injunction.

The government has argued the proposed arch does not violate the law, and says the plaintiffs don’t have standing to sue over the project.  

White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement last week: “We are confident we will be fully vindicated as this litigation proceeds and look forward to seeing the completion of this magnificent Arch — a tribute to 250 years of American greatness.”

CBS News has reached out to the Justice Department for comment on the Kennedy family.

It isn’t the first time that members of the Kennedy family have criticized Mr. Trump’s architectural overhaul of the D.C. area. Several family members have also spoken out against Mr. Trump’s attempts to add his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, including the niece and grandnephew of the center’s namesake, Kerry Kennedy and Joe Kennedy III, both of whom are seeking to join the triumphal arch lawsuit as plaintiffs.

Kerry Kennedy’s brother, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told CBS News earlier this year he was not involved in the proposed name change for the performing arts center and did not recommend against the move.

“Of course, I understand it, but I have bigger fish to fry,” he said when asked about the pushback from some of his relatives.