Trump's 'unlawfully-created' arch would 'literally' cast shadows over 'Kennedy family's sacred gravesites,' must be stopped: Court docs

President Donald Trump holds a picture of the proposed Triumphal Arch, on the South Lawn during the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, April 6, 2026 (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images).

Members of the Kennedy family moved to intervene in a lawsuit to prevent the "unlawful" construction of President Donald Trump's arch, claiming the planned 250-foot structure will "permanently cast shadows" over the graves of their kin and of "heroes who eternally rest at Arlington National Cemetery."

According to the motion filed by attorney Norman Eisen, an intervention is warranted because "some facts and harms that are unique to the Kennedy family" otherwise "overlap legally and factually" with a lawsuit filed by Vietnam War veterans, Washington, D.C., and Virginia.

Like the veteran plaintiffs, nine members of the Kennedy family say placing the "equivalent of a twenty-five-story office building" at Memorial Circle would "obstruct[] a line of sight that was designed to represent the unification of the Nation following the Civil War and that has existed for nearly a century."

But the proposed intervenors also claim the arch would lead to the "permanent denigration of the Kennedy Gravesites and the final resting place for Plaintiffs' parents and grandparents."

"Moreover, if the Arch were constructed, Plaintiffs' visits to these graves would literally be shadowed by the Arch, an unlawfully-created structure," the filing said.

The attempted intervenors include seven children of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy — Rory Kennedy, Maxwell Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Courtney Kennedy, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and former U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II — along with RFK's grandson, former U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III, and Edward M. Kennedy Jr., son of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

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"Their view of the Kennedy Gravesites from the Memorial Bridge—which the Kennedy family insisted upon because of President Kennedy's love of that vista—would be impeded," court documents said Tuesday. "Plaintiffs have a special interest in seeing the Kennedy legacy preserved, and in ensuring these memorials comport with the wishes of their parents, grandparents, and entire family."

The motion to intervene was filed on the same day veterans separately asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to go beyond the temporary restraining order (TRO) she recently issued in their favor.

Plaintiffs Michael Lemmon, Shaun Byrnes, Jon Gundersen and architectural historian Calder Loth said a preliminary injunction is needed because Congress "has not specifically authorized an arch to be built in Memorial Circle" and the TRO is set to expire on Nov. 19.

"Allowing Agency Defendants to bypass the applicable statutory processes would countenance a situation in which politicians can build idiosyncratic pet projects first and answer lawsuits later," court documents said. "The result would be exactly the sort of commemorative free-for-all that Congress determined was inappropriate for our carefully planned national capital."

The plaintiffs urged Chutkan to block the National Park Service and Department of the Interior defendants "from taking any steps to construct, or to direct, facilitate, or authorize construction of, any structure in Memorial Circle, absent congressional authorization, during the pendency of this litigation."

The judge last week rejected the administration's argument that Congress authorized the arch more than a century ago and took a dim view of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's claims about the "generational national defense opportunity" at hand.

"[T]hese recent and unsupported attestations of security aspects of a structure that has been extensively discussed over the last year appear nowhere in the planning documents on which the project was reviewed and approved," Chutkan said.

An artistic rendering of the arch-to-be shared by Secretary Doug Burgum (Department of Interior).

The president has said the arch will "house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers."

Late Tuesday, the judge ordered the Trump administration defendants to state whether they oppose the Kennedy family members' motion to intervene.

Rory and Maxwell Kennedy said in a statement for the family that they believe the president has "violated the laws and procedures established by Congress to protect this most sacred national memorial."

"In bringing this lawsuit, we stand for those who cannot stand for themselves," the statement said. "Americans from every corner of the country visit Arlington to honor those who served and sacrificed for our nation. 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."