Eisen says Trump's arch would be illegal; fund calls it "permanent denigration"

RFK Jr. stays out of relatives’ suit amid strained ties with many relatives

Attorney Norm Eisen says constructing President Trump’s 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery would be illegal. Eisen represents Kennedy family members who have sued to block the project through the Democracy Defenders Fund, which says the arch would be a “permanent denigration” of the gravesites at Arlington.

Eisen said the family members are acting beyond their own interest. “The Kennedy family members are doing this for themselves, for all of those people and for the rule of law and the separation of powers,” he said. “Building this arch is illegal.”

Eisen said constructing the arch defaces the family’s memories and the memories of all veterans interred at Arlington.

Eisen said the descendants are driven by a special cause. “The veterans and the governments who have already sought to oppose the arch have a very weighty case,” he said. “But the Kennedy family, in the long tradition of public service that is associated with that name, also wishes to stand up and be heard.”

President Trump sees the project differently. “It’s something that is so special,” he said at the White House in December 2025, according to an archived recording aired by NPR. “It will be like the one in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away.”

Nine members of the Kennedy family have joined a lawsuit asking a judge to block construction of the arch near Arlington National Cemetery, NPR reported. The family members object that the structure would cast a shadow over the gravesites of their loved ones buried at the cemetery. The plaintiffs are children and grandchildren of the late U.S. Sens. Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy. The brothers of the slain President John F. Kennedy are buried near the eternal flame that marks his gravesite at Arlington.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who serves as President Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, is not part of the lawsuit. NPR reported that Kennedy has a strained relationship with many of his relatives.