Kennedy Family Members Ask Judge to Block Trump's Arlington Memorial Arch
Nine Kennedy family members moved Tuesday to join lawsuits against a 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery. A 14-day court pause remains in place.
The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.
Nine members of the Kennedy family asked a federal judge on Tuesday to block President Donald Trump's plan to build a 250-foot memorial arch near Arlington National Cemetery, saying the structure would cast a shadow over their relatives' gravesites. The request is a legal filing, not a final ruling, and it arrived as the country marks Veterans Day.
According to an Associated Press report published by Boston.com, the relatives argued that the shadow would "fundamentally alter the experience of visiting the gravesites." They filed a motion to intervene in two existing lawsuits seeking to block construction. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan last week prohibited the Trump administration from breaking ground on the structure for 14 days.
The nine family members are children and grandchildren of Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, brothers of the slain President John F. Kennedy. Robert and Edward Kennedy, both of whom served in the U.S. Senate, are buried close to the eternal flame that marks John F. Kennedy's gravesite, a group of memorials that draws millions of visitors to the cemetery each year, the Associated Press reported.
Lawyers for the relatives wrote that building the arch would be a "permanent denigration" of the gravesites, and that the Kennedy offspring "would never again be able to appreciate both sites as they always have before, and as the Kennedy family always intended," according to the Associated Press. They are represented by Washington lawyer Norm Eisen and Democracy Defenders Fund.
Courthouse News Service identified the nine as Rory Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Courtney Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Joseph P. Kennedy II, Joseph P. Kennedy III, and Edward M. Kennedy Jr. In their motion, the family wrote that the arch "will also 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 will permanently cast a shadow over the graves of servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country, including the Kennedy gravesites."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, did not join the filing, the Associated Press and BBC News both reported.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, as quoted by the Associated Press, "It is unfortunate to see that some members of the Kennedy family have joined the litigation against the Arch as the project is intended to honor our heroes who rest in Arlington Cemetery." He added, "The judiciary should not be abused to politicize a structure designed to unite our nation." In a statement to the BBC, Ingle also said, "We will continue making the case for this beautiful and fitting monument and are confident we will be fully vindicated as this litigation proceeds."
The Associated Press reported that the White House last week unveiled a website to showcase the arch, which is slated to rise in gold ornamentation and gray granite between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
According to Courthouse News Service, the National Capital Planning Commission voted 8-4 on Thursday to give final approval to the arch, after which Judge Chutkan issued the temporary restraining order blocking construction at Memorial Circle, the space between the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial on the other side of Arlington Memorial Bridge. Commission Chairman Mark Paoletta said, "President Trump's historic vision for a monumental arch at Memorial Circle would complete a project over a century in the making, and honor our nation and her veterans, and provide the sacred ground of Arlington National Cemetery with the monumental gateway it deserves." He also said, "It would also represent a generational security opportunity to protect our nation's capital."
Virginia and Washington, D.C., are already among the parties seeking to stop the project, as Dock Line reported in Virginia and D.C. Sue to Stop Trump's Triumphal Arch Days Before Construction Could Begin. Honor the Fallen by Keeping the Law. The Kennedy family's Tuesday filing seeks to join that fight. The 14-day pause is a temporary order, not a final judgment on whether the arch may be built.
Opinion:
This is Veterans Day. The first duty at Arlington is to the dead, including the Kennedys buried there and the far greater number of ordinary service members whose names never made a headline. A president does not own that ground, and a famous family does not own it either.
The family's filing should be read as what it is: a legal claim. If the arch would wreck a designed sightline or throw a lasting shadow on graves, that is a serious question of law, design, and respect. If the claim does not hold up, it should lose. A motion is not a verdict. Judge Chutkan's 14-day order is a pause, not the end of the case.
The White House says the arch is meant to honor the heroes buried at Arlington and to unite the country. That is a fair purpose to state. It does not settle whether this particular 250-foot design, in this particular place, is the right honor. A monument can honor the fallen, or it can mainly honor the man who wanted it built. Those are not the same thing, and the difference matters.
Christians should tell the truth here without joining a team. Do not smear the Kennedys for defending graves. Do not smear the president for proposing a memorial. Do not turn the cemetery into a prop. The commandment to honor father and mother includes not treating the dead as a backdrop. The law should decide the dispute. The rest of us should remember the people under the stones, and leave idolatry of presidents and dynasties outside the gate.
