Kennedy family sues to block Trump's 250-foot Arlington arch, citing shadow over JFK's grave

Nine members of the Kennedy family have gone to federal court to try to stop construction of a 250-foot memorial arch that the Trump administration wants to build at Memorial Circle, the traffic roundabout at the Washington end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge. In papers filed this week, the relatives of Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy argued that the structure would permanently cast a shadow over the family's graves at Arlington National Cemetery, including the plot near President John F. Kennedy's eternal flame.

The filing does not create a new lawsuit. It asks U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to let the nine relatives intervene in two consolidated cases already pending before her in Washington, one brought by a group of Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian, the other by the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Both suits argue the arch cannot legally proceed without authorization from Congress.

What the Kennedys are asking for

The relatives, who are children and grandchildren of Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, are represented by lawyer Norm Eisen and the nonprofit Democracy Defenders Fund. Their filing argues that construction equipment would run as long as 20 hours a day, year-round, for more than three years at a site a few hundred feet from the family's graves, and that the finished structure would permanently alter the sightlines and lighting around the plots. News organizations that reviewed the filing reported that it cites a shadow study showing the arch would darken the gravesites and the eternal flame for extended periods; a separate analysis described in that coverage found the structure could shadow the flame for up to nine minutes on as many as 18 days a year.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary and a son of RFK, is not among the plaintiffs, a point reports on the filing noted, describing his relationship with that branch of the family as strained over his break with most of them on vaccine policy and other issues.

"There is no more sacred ground in this country than Arlington National Cemetery," former Rep. Joe Kennedy III, a grandnephew of President Kennedy, said in a CNN interview, arguing Congress never signed off on the project.

A project that has been in court for months

The arch is intended to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and has been promoted by the administration as a permanent monument honoring heroes buried at Arlington. Plans call for a structure roughly 250 feet tall, topped with gold statuary, standing at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island at the western end of the bridge connecting Virginia to the Lincoln Memorial. The National Capital Planning Commission, whose members are presidential appointees, approved final site and building plans for the project at a meeting on November 5 by an 8-4 vote, after extensive public testimony.

Hours after that vote, Judge Chutkan issued a 14-day order barring the National Park Service from beginning any construction-related work, finding that the District and Virginia were likely to succeed on their argument that the project needs congressional sign-off under the Commemorative Works Act, the 1986 law that governs how new memorials are reviewed and approved in Washington and its surrounding federal land. That law, along with several other statutes the planning commission lists among its governing authorities, gives the commission and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts a role in approving the design and site of commemorative works, but courts have treated congressional authorization of new monuments as a separate requirement. The underlying veterans' case, Lemmon v. Trump, has been before Chutkan since February and was later joined by an amicus brief from members of the House and Senate opposing the project.

The administration has defended the arch on different grounds at different points in the litigation. Government lawyers have argued that a 1925 law authorizing construction of the Arlington Memorial Bridge itself provides sufficient congressional cover, a position Chutkan questioned in her November 5 opinion, noting the arch would be taller than two ceremonial columns once proposed and then abandoned under that same law. Separately, administration officials have described the structure as having a practical security function, telling reporters it could incorporate space for personnel, drones and ammunition storage, a characterization that has drawn skepticism from preservation groups and lawmakers who argue it is being used to justify bypassing ordinary review.

• Planned height: 250 feet, taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
• Location: Memorial Circle, at the Virginia end of Arlington Memorial Bridge
• Commission vote approving final design: 8-4, November 5, 2026
• Lead case: Lemmon v. Trump, No. 1:26-cv-00544, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

The administration's response

White House spokesman Davis Ingle called it "unfortunate" that some Kennedy relatives had joined the litigation, saying in a statement carried by several news outlets that "the judiciary should not be abused to politicize a structure designed to unite our nation" and that the project is meant to honor those buried at Arlington. He said the administration expects to be "fully vindicated" as the case proceeds. The Justice Department has separately urged the court to dismiss the veterans' suit outright, arguing in filings that the plaintiffs lack standing to sue over their desire to preserve views of Arlington House and the Lincoln Memorial.

What happens next

Chutkan has not ruled on the Kennedy family's motion to intervene, and her 14-day restraining order halting excavation and site work is due to expire in the coming days. The judge explicitly left open the separate question of whether to grant a longer-term stay sought by the District of Columbia and Virginia, saying the short-term order "fully preserves the status quo" while she considers the merits of the underlying claims. No hearing date on the intervention motion or on a preliminary injunction has been publicly scheduled.

If the restraining order lapses without a further ruling, the National Park Service could resume preparations for construction while the broader legal fight over congressional authorization continues. The plaintiffs are expected to press Chutkan for a longer-term injunction before that happens, while the administration has made clear it intends to keep moving once the litigation is resolved in its favor. For now, the arch remains unbuilt, and the roundabout at the foot of the bridge to Arlington National Cemetery looks as it has for decades.