Judge blocks construction of Trump's arch moments after it won federal approval

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A federal judge blocked construction of President Trump's arch, stopping work the administration had hoped to begin immediately.

Just before midnight Friday, District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an order — finalized and made public minutes later - barring the government from any construction work for 14 days, granting a request filed days earlier by the governments of D.C. and Virginia.

She laid out her reasoning in a 33-page opinion, in which she scrutinized the administration's competing justifications for the arch — particularly its sudden emphasis on national security — and agreed that the local governments are likely to be harmed by its construction. The 250-foot arch would stand in Memorial Circle, a traffic island on the bridge linking the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery.

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Chutkan's ruling came less than two hours after a federal planning commission packed with presidential allies granted final approval to the arch in an 8-4 vote. The National Capital Planning Commission heard nearly eight hours of impassioned pleas from veterans, lawmakers, residents and concerned citizens opposed to the structure.

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