The Kennedy dynasty has filed a motion to block President Trump’s arch from obscuring the JFK Eternal Flame and the gravesites of his murdered family members.
Published November 11, 2026
The famous Kennedy family has filed a legal complaint to stop construction of US President Donald Trump’s 76-meter (250-foot) Arc de Triomphe in Washington, DC, saying it would damage areas near the graves of their famous ancestors.
On Tuesday, nine plaintiffs, the children and grandchildren of former Sens. Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, filed a motion to intervene and a companion complaint in two existing federal lawsuits seeking to block construction of the Arch.
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The project will be located near the final resting place of the late senators, who will be buried alongside their brother, former President John F. Kennedy, and the eternal flame in his memory at Arlington National Cemetery.
The plaintiffs argued that the proposed arch would “fundamentally change the experience of visiting the cemetery” visited by millions of visitors each year.
The motion to intervene was filed by veteran Washington lawyer Norm Eisen and the center-left legal advocacy group Democracy Defenders Fund.
The group claims the National Park Service and the Interior Department approved the granite and gold-decorated structure, dubbed the “Trump Arch” by critics, without requiring Congressional approval.
Plaintiffs also argue that the megastructure would destroy a purposefully designed, 100-year-old line of sight between the Lincoln Memorial and the cemetery’s Arlington House, across the Memorial Bridge.
many plaintiffs
This high-profile intervention adds to the already numerous list of plaintiffs who have launched legal challenges to the polarizing monument, including Vietnam War veterans, historians, and the governments of the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Arlington County.
Last week, District Judge Tanya Chutkan barred the Trump administration from breaking ground on the building for another 14 days following a series of lawsuits.
Construction of the arch would be a “permanent denigration” of the cemetery, and Kennedy’s descendants “will never again be able to appreciate both sites as they once did and as the Kennedy family always intended,” the family’s attorney wrote Tuesday.
The project is just one part of the president’s efforts to transform much of Washington, D.C., alongside renovations to historic golf courses and threats to demolish the Kennedy Center.
But with Democrats taking control of Congress in last week’s midterm elections, the review could bring increased scrutiny.
Rory and Maxwell Kennedy, children of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, said on behalf of the Kennedy family that the action was to “protect a sacred space that belongs to the American people.” They said several of the families of those killed were “among the more than 400,000 veterans and families buried or honored on this hallowed ground.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Trump appointee who is estranged from many of his family members, did not take part in the lawsuit.
