Kennedy Family Requests Court to Halt Trump's Arc de Triomphe Project in Washington
Kennedy family asks court to stop construction of Arc de Triomphe replica in Washington.
Translated by Qiyas from كويت نيوز — Original source
Court documents revealed that the family of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy filed a motion on Tuesday seeking to block the construction of a massive Arc de Triomphe-style arch that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to erect.
The proposed arch would stand over 76 meters tall and is part of several projects launched by Trump to beautify the U.S. capital and leave his personal mark on it.
In the documents filed on Tuesday, the Kennedy family stated that the arch would obstruct views from the graves of the former president and his relatives, “undermining a fundamental element of the cemetery’s design.”
They added that its location would also block the direct line of sight between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, “which was designed to symbolize national unity after the Civil War.”
The name of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who currently serves as Secretary of Health in the Trump administration, was not among the nine plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Arlington, a large military cemetery near Washington, D.C., is the final resting place of former President John F. Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, two of their children, and his brothers Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, both of whom served as U.S. Senators. The cemetery also contains the remains of Ethel Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy’s widow.
The John F. Kennedy Memorial, located at the summit of the hill where the cemetery sits, attracts thousands of visitors daily. The site, featuring an eternal flame, is one of the cemetery’s most visited locations, alongside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In early November, a federal judge issued an order halting construction of the arch, which had not yet begun, for two weeks to allow time to consider legal challenges filed against the project.
In late 2025, the Republican president also added his name to the Kennedy Center, a prominent cultural institution in Washington named in honor of the Democratic president who was assassinated in 1963.
The center’s facade bore the name “Donald J. Trump” for more than six months, before a court ruled the new naming unlawful and ordered its removal.
