Judge halts work on Trump's triumphal arch for 14 days, hours after its final approval

A federal judge has halted construction work on Donald Trump's towering triumphal arch in Washington for 14 days, a major setback for one of the president's most prominent projects in his vision to remake the capital. The temporary restraining order was issued by US district judge Tanya Chutkan in the early hours of Friday, hours after the project was approved by the planning commission.

The order followed a series of steps taken on Thursday by the government, including the final approval of the 250-foot-high (76-metre) arch by the National Capital Planning Commission in an 8-4 vote after a nine-hour hearing where dozens of witnesses opposed the construction.

The administration had said work on the arch could begin as soon as the approval was given, the interior department issued a final decision authorising construction, and the proper notification was published by the National Park Service.

In issuing the delay, Chutkan granted the request of the latest plaintiffs in lawsuits challenging the arch. She also consolidated lawsuits from the District of Columbia and Virginia with a group of Vietnam veterans and an architectural historian.

It is unclear how much the project will cost, or how it will be paid for, although some estimates have reached as high as $100 million.

The vote by the planning commission on Thursday came after nine and a half hours, with scores of people opposing it. The vote broke along federal and local lines: those in favour work for the administration or are connected to the president, who was pushing for immediate construction, while the opponents represented the city of Washington.

The remote, call-in hearing crashed repeatedly in the first few hours and was accompanied by a nearly universally negative comment section. Witnesses gave impassioned comments opposing an arch they said would destroy the solemnity of the nearby Arlington National Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of fallen service members and military veterans are buried.

The panel's Trump-appointed chair, Mark Paoletta, who also serves as general counsel for the White House Office of Management and Budget, launched the meeting with a gushing appraisal of the monument and lauded Trump for wanting to build it. As Trump has often remarked, Paoletta said, the great cities around the world have arches: Paris, Rome, London.

Commissioner Paul Ingrassia, a lawyer for the General Services Administration, said the arch was not about politics but about remembrance, celebrating history and commemorating veterans — a noble tribute to the nation that everyone could rally behind.

But DC city council member Phil Mendelson, who also serves on the planning panel, said the project had not received required approval from Congress, nor had Congress appropriated any money for it. The plan submitted to the commission did not include a reference to the military use cited by Trump and other administration officials, he said, adding that final site and building plans could not be approved before those plans existed.

Representative Jared Huffman, a California Democrat who is set to chair the House Natural Resources Committee, called the project ill-advised and illegal. "This arch would dishonour America," Huffman told the commission, calling it a tribute to Donald Trump rather than veterans — similar to monuments built for emperors or kings, with veterans used as a pretext for a memorial to himself.

The arch is one of several projects around Washington that Trump has undertaken as he remakes the city, from renovating one of its storied public golf courses to threatening to demolish the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Those projects could soon face greater scrutiny after the Democrats gained control of Congress.