A federal judge is considering a request to throw out legal challenges from Virginia and the District of Columbia that seek to stop the development of a massive memorial near the National Mall. The Trump administration argued in a filing that the regional governments have failed to prove that they would suffer legally recognizable harm if the construction of the arch proceeded.
The monument’s project has been stalled by skepticism from Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who questioned the government’s claims that the structure would be used for drones and snipers to defend the region. While the Justice Department previously told Reuters the project would not be finished until after the current president’s second term, the administration had pushed to begin ground-breaking as early as Nov 5. Judge Chutkan has mandated that the government notify her court within 30 minutes of any activity on the site.
