A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to provide 48 hours’ notice before it begins working on President Donald Trump’s arch.
According to a post by Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney, Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered advance notice to her court before any work begins on the arch. She handed down the order as she prepared to consider a motion for a temporary restraining order to stop construction on the arch.
The order for advance notice also comes after the Supreme Court allowed Trump’s East Wing ballroom to finish and amid challenges to his D.C. golf course. Politico legal reporter Josh Gerstein noted in a Friday report that Trump is employing a legal “tush push” to get his projects most of the way through construction before they can be challenged in court, with the thought being that courts can’t stop the Trump administration from building what’s already been built.
“Courts, I think, are now recognizing this as a very explicitly purposeful strategy,” an anonymous lawyer who has faced the administration told Gerstein. “The question is: are they prepared to do something about it?”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Thursday that the Trump administration plans to start excavation over the next two weeks to move ahead with the arch, according to reports.
However, three Vietnam War veterans asked Chutkan on Friday to prevent work from starting on the arch, the Washington Post reported. The veterans sought a temporary restraining order through an emergency filing and warned that the administration is seeking to outrace federal courts on the project, The Post noted.
Chutkan’s order demanded that the Trump administration “shall provide the court with 48 hours’ notice before engaging in any activity on Memorial Circle other than on-site information gathering.” The information gathering was limited to looking for anything “regarding any archaeological resources that may be present at the site.”
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