Kennedy family members ask judge to block Trump’s Arlington arch, say it will cast shadow on graves

Nine family members of the Kennedy political dynasty ask a judge to block US President Donald Trump’s plan to build a towering memorial arch, saying the 250-foot (76-meter) structure would cast a shadow over their relatives’ gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery.

The shadow would “fundamentally alter the experience of visiting the gravesites,” the relatives argue. They file a motion to intervene in two existing lawsuits seeking to block construction of the arch.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan last week prohibited the Trump administration from breaking ground on the structure for 14 days.

The nine Kennedy family members who filed suit are children and grandchildren of Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, brothers of the slain US president John F. Kennedy, both of whom served in the US Senate. They are buried close to the eternal flame that marks JFK’s gravesite, a trio of memorials that are a major draw for the millions of people who visit the Arlington cemetery each year.

Building the arch would be a “permanent denigration” of the gravesites, and the Kennedy offspring “would never again be able to appreciate both sites as they always have before, and as the Kennedy family always intended,” lawyers for the relatives write. They are represented by veteran Washington lawyer Norm Eisen and Democracy Defenders Fund.

“It is unfortunate to see that some members of the Kennedy family have joined the litigation against the Arch as the project is intended to honor our heroes who rest in Arlington Cemetery,” says White House spokesperson Davis Ingle. “The judiciary should not be abused to politicize a structure designed to unite our nation.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health and human services secretary who has a fractured relationship with many of his relatives, did not join the lawsuit.