Trump Admin Announces Plan to Begin Arch Construction, Despite Lack of Legal Authority
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a social media post today, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the Trump administration’s intent to begin excavation work for Trump’s vanity arch in Memorial Circle in the next two weeks.
Public Citizen Litigation Group currently represents four plaintiffs — three veterans and an architectural historian — in a lawsuit against the administration for constructing the arch in violation of laws requiring congressional approval.
Nicolas Sansone, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, issued the following statement:
“The administration has no legal authority to begin work on its monumental arch. By law, the administration cannot proceed with this project unless and until Congress authorizes construction. And even the administration appears to recognize that the arch requires authorization from the National Capital Planning Commission, which it has not received. Even under the administration’s own view of the law, then, the preparatory work that Secretary Burgum has announced has no legal basis.”