Judge reinforces order halting immediate work on Trump’s 250-foot arch - USA Today

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, that the Trump administration must give 48 hours' notice before advancing work on a planned 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery.
The order restricts activity at Memorial Circle to "on-site information gathering" aimed at identifying underground cultural artifacts, and reinforced an earlier directive.
The ruling came a day after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on Sept. 3 that ground would be broken at the site, describing excavation for the "Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck" on Columbia Island between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
The project, part of Trump's broader effort to reshape the capital's landscape, has been contested since a group of three veterans and a historian filed a lawsuit in February opposing it.
The plaintiffs asked Chutkan on Sept. 4 for a 14-day restraining order to block any construction steps, while the government maintained the work is standard archaeological survey activity, planning to excavate four test pits no earlier than Sept. 21 and restore the land by Oct. 31.
The arch still requires final approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, which would need to grant an exception to the area's 130-foot building height limit.