The District of Columbia and Virginia sued the Trump administration on Saturday to halt construction of the 250-foot triumphal arch planned for Memorial Circle, asking a federal court for a temporary restraining order days before work could begin. Attorneys General Brian Schwalb and Jay Jones filed the suit Oct. 31 against the National Park Service, the Interior Department and their leaders, Jessica Bowron and Doug Burgum.

The timing is the point. The administration has said ground could be broken as soon as Nov. 5, the day the National Capital Planning Commission meets to consider final approval, if Interior also issues its own final decision. Per CBS News, the complaint says irreparable harm would begin "as soon as Defendants break ground."

The complaint runs to eight counts, including violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. It also alleges that the arch breaks the Height of Buildings Act, which generally caps buildings on D.C. business streets at 130 feet, and that Congress never authorized it as the Commemorative Works Act requires, according to Newsweek's account of the filing. The jurisdictions say construction would snarl traffic between the District and Virginia, strain emergency services, send stormwater runoff into the Potomac and block the sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House.

"In their rush to break ground on the Arch, Defendants have made only half-hearted gestures at complying with these requirements," the lawyers wrote. "This is not the first time that Defendants have rushed to dramatically remake the District too quickly for courts to intervene," they added.

Schwalb said construction would cause "serious, immediate and irreparable harm to the District and its residents." Jones called the arch an "illegal vanity project." A White House spokesman responded that it would be "one of the most iconic landmarks" in the world, and the Park Service and Interior did not respond to requests for comment, according to Yahoo News.

The filing came the day after the veterans' case against the arch got its hearing. At the Oct. 30 hearing in Washington, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan did not rule but said she would move expeditiously, and she pressed the government on the rush. "What's the harm to the government to wait three or four months? What's the rush to put this arch up?" she asked, and asked whether the president's main desire was to "bedazzle the city," according to courtroom reports. On national security, she asked whether the arch is supposed to deter assassination attempts, adding, "It's going to be completed three years from now."

The Justice Department's lawyer, Robert Stander, argued the challengers lack standing because the plans will not be final until the planning commission acts next week. Chutkan asked, "What would be final agency action when bulldozers start digging up the ground?" The administration has said construction could start the same day the commission approves the plan. The Justice Department has also told the court that the Supreme Court's 5-4 order letting the White House ballroom proceed is "indistinguishable" from the veterans' claims, since that ruling turned on standing.

The national security case for the arch is newer than the arch. Trump wrote on Truth Social in September that it would "house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas," as we reported. In filings on Oct. 28, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called the arch "a generational national defense opportunity" against drone attacks, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said it would help the Secret Service protect senior officials, the Epoch Times reported. We could not open the filings themselves.

Three suits now seek to stop it. Three Vietnam War veterans and architectural historian Calder Loth, represented in part by Public Citizen, sued in February arguing that the project needs congressional approval. Arlington County's board sued on Oct. 8, represented by Democracy Forward, over traffic, public safety and historic preservation; White House spokesman Davis Ingle called that suit "meritless and dilatory" and said the administration had been "fastidiously compliant with all procedural and legal requirements."

The project has moved fast. As we reported, Burgum announced on Sept. 3 that excavation for what he called the "Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck" would begin within two weeks. The Commission of Fine Arts, whose members are all Trump appointees, has given early approval, and the planning commission has so far cleared only preliminary plans. The government's 106-page plan, submitted Oct. 30, includes a bronze Lady Liberty statue, an observation deck and an "occupied roof."

At 250 feet, the arch would be roughly half the height of the Washington Monument and taller than the Arc de Triomphe.