Federal judge teporarily blocks Trump arch

The Hill - A federal judge late Thursday ordered a pause on the construction of President Trump’s triumphal arch for 14 days. The temporary restraining order by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan came shortly after the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) voted to approve the administration’s plans to build the arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. The motion passed by an 8-4 vote on Thursday after more than 100 public remarks, mostly against the project, in a nine-hour meeting.  

In a memorandum opinion filed with the order, Chutkan wrote that D.C. and Virginia — which sued the administration over the project last month — “have shown that construction of the Arch will cause harm by ‘clogging traffic, impeding disaster preparedness, and harming the environment,’ which will also ‘require both jurisdictions to expend resources to monitor and mitigate those impacts.’”

“First, the harm is certain,” the judge continued. “Second, the District and Virginia will incur significant unrecoverable costs.”