A recent forensic analysis by the Washington Post cited in a federal complaint found that President Trump’s proposed 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery would cast shadows over tens of thousands of graves, darken John F. Kennedy’s memorial on 50 days of the year and briefly block the eternal flame on almost half of those days.
Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson filed a 10-page declaration Tuesday arguing the arch would endanger national security.
Nine members of the Kennedy family filed suit in federal court on Tuesday seeking to block the 250-foot arch President Trump has proposed near Arlington National Cemetery, telling the court the structure would obstruct their relatives’ gravesites, including the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame. The motion, filed hours before Veterans’ Day, asks to join an existing federal lawsuit challenging the project.
In a statement issued on behalf of the family, Rory Kennedy and Maxwell Kennedy said: “A towering arch casting shadows across the graves of our father, mother, and uncles, as well as the graves of so many who have served our country, would also cast a shadow over our democratic principles, undermining the safeguards established by our elected representatives to protect this hallowed ground for generations to come.”
The plaintiffs include children of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy and a son of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, all three of whom are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. One family member is absent: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not join his siblings in the lawsuit against his own administration.
The Kennedys’ 27-page filing says the arch “constitutes nothing less than a permanent denigration of the Kennedy Gravesites and the final resting place for Plaintiffs’ parents and grandparents.” The plaintiffs wrote that they “would never again be able to appreciate both sites as they always have before, and as the Kennedy family always intended.”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told NPR in a statement: “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. 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 Kennedys seek to join an existing federal case that combines a suit brought earlier this year by Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian with one filed late last month by the governments of Washington, D.C., and Virginia. The Arlington County Board has also filed a lawsuit in Virginia. The administration, meanwhile, has moved the arch through federal approvals over the past year, culminating in a final green light from the National Capital Planning Commission on Thursday. Officials had previously said they could break ground in Memorial Circle that same day. Within moments of the late-night approval, District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered construction blocked for two weeks while she evaluates the broader legal challenges.
One of the main arguments against the arch is that its construction is unlawful without congressional approval, which the administration has not sought. The administration maintains that a century-old authorization for two never-built columns at the same location justifies the project — an argument Chutkan addressed last week, writing that “merely to state this argument is to reveal its flaws.” The administration has also argued the case should be thrown out because the plaintiffs lack standing, the reasoning the Supreme Court used in the White House ballroom case. Chutkan has said D.C. and Virginia likely have standing to sue over the arch, given the financial and logistical harms they would suffer.
David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University, told NPR in an email that he believes the Kennedy family’s involvement only strengthens the plaintiffs’ standing. “I can imagine … that a judge on any level would feel uncomfortable denigrating their concerns over their family graves the way the Supreme Court denigrated the plaintiffs’ interest in the White House ballroom case,” Super wrote. “And coming at a time when the Administration is hinting that it might tear down the Kennedy Center, this certainly makes the President look insensitive or even hostile to his revered predecessor.” Several Kennedy family members have spoken out against what they describe as Trump’s attempted takeover of the Kennedy Center, which is the subject of a separate lawsuit.
Arlington National Cemetery sits at the center of the fight. The cemetery says JFK’s gravesite is one of its two most-visited locations, along with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Kennedys’ filing explains that JFK’s family chose Arlington as his final resting place so that the gravesite would be accessible to the public.
“President Kennedy himself visited the Cemetery and stood where he is now buried,” the filing states. “The vista looking back toward the District from the spot where his grave now stands was one of his favorites. While looking out, he remarked, ‘I could stay here forever.’”
The grave was intentionally placed on the same axis as the bridge connecting Arlington House — the former home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — to the Lincoln Memorial, and Kennedy’s personal secretary remarked that he was “the link between Lincoln and Lee.” The gravesite is topped with an eternal flame that has burned since his funeral in November 1963. The Kennedys said their ancestors were “assured that all aspects of the design would safeguard visibility of the Eternal Flame” from the bridge, even with the grave’s intentionally low profile preserving views of Arlington House — views the family says the arch would block.
The Trump administration has acknowledged that the arch would disrupt the historic significance of many nearby memorials, but has said building it anywhere else would defeat its purpose. The administration has also said the arch will be topped with an eternal flame of its own, citing lighting recommendations from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Kennedys said they often visit their family’s graves in the morning for extra privacy — the same time of day the Post analysis found the shadows would be most pronounced. “Plaintiffs’ visits to these would literally be shadowed by the Arch, an unlawfully-created structure,” the filing reads. “The shadow the Arch would leave over the Kennedy Gravesites would fundamentally alter the experience of visiting the Gravesites.” Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their relatives.
The White House has characterized the arch as a tribute to the nation’s military heritage, saying it will “enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike.” Many of those veterans and military family members have objected — at protests in Memorial Circle, in tens of thousands of written comments submitted during the federal review process, and in nearly nine hours of public testimony at last Thursday’s planning commission meeting.
Critics say the arch would disrespect those buried at Arlington and disrupt the solemnity of the space for visiting loved ones. They also say construction, which the administration estimates would involve 20-hour days, would interfere with the 24 to 27 funeral services held at the cemetery every weekday. Veterans have said that Trump — who received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War — would honor their service if he stopped cutting resources for them.
Anderson argued in his declaration that storing ammunition in a tourist attraction would constitute a “tremendous risk,” and that launching drones in the area, so close to D.C.’s airport, “poses clear hazards” to civilians. “Not only is the Arch not suitable for any practical military facility, but it actually degrades security in the National Capital Region by placing a high-payoff target for our enemies just a few meters from a major road network and the traffic circle that surrounds the Arch,” Anderson wrote. He pointed to bombings in Beirut in 1983 and Oklahoma in 1995 as “two examples of the danger posed by allowing vehicles within close proximity of comparable military or law enforcement targets.”
Anderson’s declaration is part of a batch of documents the veterans filed this week in their push for a more permanent ban on the arch. The administration has recast the arch as a military structure on a public-facing website and in recent court filings, though the plan that won final approval last week contains no details about national security. The judge did not seem to find that late-stage argument compelling in her order last week.
Democrats have vowed to use their forthcoming majority in Congress to block Trump’s construction projects and investigate potential wrongdoing. Experts told NPR earlier this week that, given Trump’s veto power, Congress is better positioned to fight through oversight hearings and funding restrictions. The arch’s future, they say, will likely be decided by the Supreme Court.