A continuation of the U.S. Climate Politics Almanac review of Trump vanity projects in the nation’s capital and the dire implications of the passage of lame-duck industrial-expediting bill BAAJA (S. 5653). Previously, we reviewed the White House ballroom and East Potomac Park. Below, we look at the Trump arch, Reflecting Pool, and Kennedy Center cases.
THE TRUMP ARCH: Lemmon v. Trump and County Board of Arlington v. NPS
A mockup of the Trump Arch on the National Mall, July 10, 2026. The actual arch design is trashier. Credit: Joe Flood
If BAAJA passes, most of the legal avenues for opponents of the construction of the Trump arch will be narrowed or shut down.
In October 2025, Trump announced his plans for a gargantuan and garish “triumphal arch” blocking the view of the Lincoln Memorial from Arlington National Cemetery.1 He has since announced it will also serve as a new, mechanized military outpost with drones and snipers.
Represented by Public Citizen, three Vietnam veterans and an architectural historian brought suit in February against the arch’s construction, citing the Commemorative Works Act, NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
In April, Trump’s CFA voted for the arch.
In June, the National Parks Service issued a rushed environmental impact assessment under NEPA, with a finding of “no significant impact”; they then avoided soliciting comment on the environmental assessment.
Also in June, they published an assessment of effect on historic sites under NHPA’s Section 106, finding dozens of adverse effects on the sanctity of those sites, but then invited only ten days of public comment. In July, they reopened twenty more days of public comment after complaints from the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Office and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. In August, after receiving overwhelmingly negative comments, NPS issued a revised Section 106 statement finding even more adverse effects. In September, they issued a proposed historic-preservation agreement, admitting “adverse effects cannot be fully avoided” but that “the proposed location at Memorial Circle is central to the undertaking” and thus no alternative course of action could be considered.
Meanwhile, Secretary Burgum posted renderings of the arch and announced “excavation work” would begin mid-September, so plaintiffs filed for a restraining order, which was granted.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)—as he was negotiating legislation to kill section 106 of the NHPA—led a September 22 letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum against the Arch, citing “section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act,” which requires the government to “avoid, minimize, or mitigate” adverse harm to historic sites. The letter was co-signed by U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
In October, NPS issued a revised environmental assessment with the same “no significant impact” finding, and Trump’s National Historic Preservation Agency killed the Section 106 review of the arch, with a “singularly audacious letter” that abdicated its role and left it to Burgum to sign off.
Also in October, with support from Democracy Forward, the county board of Arlington, Va. brought suit, arguing NPS failed to conduct a proper NEPA environmental impact assessment of the arch project.
The Trump administration stacked the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) with more toadies last Wednesday, then told the judge that evening that construction on arch could begin on November 5th, days after the midterm elections, immediately following the NCPC meeting that day.
The passage of BAAJA will blow up the Arlington County lawsuit and threaten the Lemmon v. Trump case as well.
“They’re breaking the law with the arch,” Section 106 lawyer Ellen Chapman said at a webinar on BAAJA on Friday. “If this bill passes, they will be breaking the law a lot less.”
“It will make it easier for them to process all projects like they are trying to do with the arch,” Chapman explained further. “It will encourage the kind of violation in the arch case.”
Local veterans and Third Act DC activists are leading the local grassroots effort to stop the arch, with daily vigils and organizing in preparation of November 5th.
THE REFLECTING POOL: Cultural Landscape Foundation v. Department of the Interior
Spraying the reflecting pool blue, June 2, 2026. Credit: Joe Flood
In this case, Trump got away with his rush job to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue, as the judge in the case decided not to grant an emergency stay on the shoddy project.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s complaint cited violations of the NHPA, NEPA, and the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) for failing to conduct proper review before construction, failure to consult interested parties, improper use of streamlined review, political pressure to accelerate the work, and adverse effects on historic character. Because the judge—a Trump appointee—chose not to block the work, the corrupt job was completed, then immediately started peeling and falling apart. Trump’s ensuing rampage led to the persecution of Davey Hearn and others for touching the pool.
The TCLF case is still ongoing as an APA dispute over the Trump administration’s failure to follow the law.
If BAAJA were the law of the land, this case would never have been filed, since it removes all of the NHPA and NEPA violations, and restricts standing to those who participate in the comment process. So if there isn’t a comment process, no-one has standing. The Trump regime will also argue that even if they did commit a violation, the judge no longer has the authority to punish them, thanks to the bill’s sweeping limits on judicial review.
THE KENNEDY CENTER: Beatty v. Trump and DC Preservation League v. Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
A Trump-tarped Kennedy Center, September 3, 2026. Credit: Joe Flood
If BAAJA passes, the Trump regime will have dangerous new legal tools to permit the threatened demolition of the Kennedy Center.
There are two separate cases against Trump’s renaming and proposed demolition of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: trustee Rep. Joyce Beatty’s (D-Ohio) suit, and the DC Preservation League’s case, which are being coordinated but handled separately by Judge Christopher R. Cooper.
Beatty’s suit challenges the renaming of the center after Trump and its arbitrary closure, whereas the coalition of historic preservationists and architects led by the Preservation League seeks to stop Trump from “proceeding with any demolition, new construction, major reconstruction, major renovation, or major aesthetic transformation of the Kennedy Center buildings or grounds that exceeds statutory limits, circumvents mandatory federal review, or fails to comply with fundamental historic preservation and environmental laws.”
The Trump-picked board, with Trump as chair, has repeated voted to put Trump’s name on the building and close down the center. In May, when the judge ordered the name removed and the center reopened, the board relented on the name. But then the board voted again to put Trump’s name on the building and to close down the center, claiming it was in a state of extreme disrepair, so the judge issued another injunction in September against any renaming and ordered status reports on the purported repair effort while the center remains closed.
The DC Preservation League case would be severely weakened by BAAJA, as its first two and eighth counts rely on Section 106 of NHPA, and its third count on NEPA. Furthermore, the passage of BAAJA would greatly strengthen the Trump regime’s claim that the plaintiffs lack standing to sue.
BAAJA’s provisions would radically empower Trump to commence demolition without public consultation, under the guise of Congressionally appropriated renovations and repairs.
"Unless the NHPA provisions are fully removed from the permitting bill, the President will have virtually free rein to implement his pet projects in DC and nationwide, with no input from the public,” Greg Werkheiser, a lawyer representing the Preservation League, warned in a written interview with the U.S. Climate Politics Almanac. Werkheiser questioned why Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who has been investigating Trump’s corrupt mismanagement of the Kennedy Center, is now “gutting the law that slows him down.”
Hill Heat’s U.S. Climate Politics Almanac is made available to the public thanks to our paid subscribers. Join their ranks today and grow the movement:
1 “This massive 250-foot triumphal arch would cast a dark shadow over thousands of military men and women laid to rest with their families here,” the National Parks Conservation Association warns, alluding to the visual harms of the project, which BAAJA would exclude from consideration.
