A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday, Sept. 4, to provide 48 hours’ notice before moving forward with work on the site of a planned 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the administration must inform the court “before engaging in any activity on Memorial Circle other than on-site information gathering” to identify underground cultural artifacts.
Chutkan reinforced her order a day after Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced plans on Sept. 3 to break ground at the site of the arch in the coming days.
“We are preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck, at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery,” Burgum wrote on X. “This will be one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture, honoring the history and significance of Arlington Cemetery and befitting the most powerful Capital in the World.”