Federal court adds 48-hour notice order for Trump Arc construction

Previously, in April, an order was issued for ‘notification 14 days in advance of main construction’… Opposition side: “There is no legal basis for construction”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Jae-woo = While U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for the construction of a large Arc de Triomphe in Washington, D.C., a federal court has increased the level of restrictions by requiring additional prior notification.

According to Reuters on the 4th (local time), U.S. Federal Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered that the Trump administration must notify the court at least 48 hours in advance if it wants to conduct any activities other than archaeological research work, such as examining underground artifacts, at the proposed site of the Arc de Triomphe near Arlington National Cemetery.

This is in addition to the order issued last April.

Judge Chutkan raised strong doubts about whether then-President Trump had the legal authority to push for the construction of the Arc de Triomphe. Accordingly, the Trump administration agreed to notify the court at least 14 days before actual construction or demolition work to prepare for construction.

With this order, the government has a separate obligation to notify in advance of all on-site activities in the stages prior to the main construction, excluding cultural property surveys.

This order came one day after U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced through

However, in documents submitted to the court this time, the U.S. government stated that this work is not for full-scale construction, but for cultural property investigation, and that it plans to sell four 'test pits' at the planned site after the 21st.

Judge Chutkan added the prior notification order, reaffirming that the government would be violating the existing court order if it proceeds with actual construction or demolition work in preparation for construction before receiving final approval from the National Park Service (NPS) or without 14 days' prior notice.

Previously, three veterans and an architectural historian who opposed the construction of the Arc de Triomphe applied to the court for a temporary restraining order, arguing that the administration had no legal basis to proceed with the construction and that approval from Congress was needed.

The Arc de Triomphe, planned to be 250 feet tall (approximately 76 m), is modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, and is scheduled to be built between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

In addition to procedural issues, opponents argue that the building could damage the historic view axis between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House across the Potomac River.

The Arc de Triomphe requires exception approval as it exceeds the building height limit of 130 feet (approximately 40 meters) that applies to most areas of Washington, DC, but final approval from the Metropolitan Planning Commission has not yet been issued.