Nine members of the Kennedy family asked a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to let them join the lawsuit against President Trump's planned 250-foot arch at Memorial Circle, saying it would cast shadows over the Kennedy graves at Arlington National Cemetery and block the view of the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame from Arlington Memorial Bridge.

The family filed a motion to intervene in the existing case, No. 1:26-cv-03838, before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, with its own proposed complaint attached.

On Oct. 31, Chutkan paused work on the arch for 14 days, as Edit USA reported.

Who is suing and what they want

The traffic plaza on Columbia Island at the Virginia end of Arlington Memorial Bridge, with trees and a granite pylon
The traffic plaza on Columbia Island at Arlington Memorial Bridge, near Memorial Circle, in 2011.National Park Service / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Seven of the plaintiffs are children of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy: Rory, Maxwell Taylor, Christopher G., Kerry and Courtney Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Joseph P. Kennedy II. The other two are Joseph P. Kennedy III, a grandson, and Edward M. Kennedy Jr., son of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. They are suing Trump, Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley, the Executive Office of the President, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the Interior Department and the National Park Service.

The complaint says the Park Service and Interior gave final authorization on Nov. 5 for construction to begin. The family argues that the approval breaks the Commemorative Works Act of 1986, which requires Congress to sign off on new commemorative works in the capital, along with other federal laws, and that it was arbitrary and capricious. Its last count says the defendants acted beyond their legal authority.

The complaint asks the court to throw out the Nov. 5 authorization. The family also wants an order barring any work until Congress approves the arch and names a sponsor, and until every review the law requires has been completed.

The shadow claim

View east from Arlington House across the Potomac toward Arlington Memorial Bridge and Washington
The view east from Arlington House toward Arlington Memorial Bridge and Washington in 2011.Tim Evanson / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

The arch would stand at least 250 feet tall, more than twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial, on the line between the memorial and Arlington House.

According to the complaint, the shadows over the Kennedy graves would be strongest in the morning before the cemetery opens, the hours when family members usually visit.

"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," Rory Kennedy and Maxwell Kennedy said in a statement released by their lawyers at Democracy Defenders Fund.