A Washington-area nonprofit Monday asked a federal court to halt President Donald Trump’s efforts to resurface the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying that the president failed to undergo required federal reviews before applying a blue color to the basin.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation, an education and advocacy organization, filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The group is seeking a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to stop the Interior Department’s work, citing a provision of the National Historic Preservation Act that mandates reviews when changing historic properties.
The foundation also wrote that the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency that advises on design projects related to the nation’s capital, has been involved with past changes to the pool but did not review Trump’s new project.
Charles A. Birnbaum, who heads the Cultural Landscape Foundation, noted that the neutral colors originally used for the pool’s basin were intended to convey greater depth and reflection, which is now threatened by the president’s changes. He called the blue tint “more appropriate to a resort or theme park” and in an interview said his organization’s lawsuit was propelled by deeper questions about aesthetics, federal law and the intent of Washington’s memorials.
“This is about process more than anything else,” Birnbaum said, raising concerns about the potential consequences of allowing presidents to unilaterally change the city’s monuments and landscape. The Washington Litigation Group is representing the foundation in its case.
The White House referred questions to the Interior Department, which did not respond to questions about the lawsuit but issued a statement defending the project.
“The Department is proud of the work being carried out by our Park Service to ensure this magical spot can be enjoyed for not only our 250th, but for many generations to come,” the agency wrote in an email.
Administration officials have said their work is necessary to stop leaks that have long plagued the Reflecting Pool. Trump unveiled the project last month, predicting in public remarks that the work would cost less than $2 million and be completed within one week. A contractor convinced him to use “American Flag Blue” to cover the pool’s basin, he said then.
The work has stretched longer and is projected to cost more than the president estimated. The Interior Department has awarded $13.1 million to Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC, a company that specializes in waterproofing services, to perform the work of resurfacing the pool, publicly available federal records show.
Reached by phone, a man who identified himself as Eddie Wood, the owner of Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, said the contract details were correct and referred further questions to the administration. The New York Times first reported the contract.
“It’s going to last many, many years and it’s going to have no leaks,” Trump said Thursday, after his motorcade drove across the basin. He has said the project will be completed by July 4, in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, and has repeatedly posted what appear to be AI-generated images of the blue-tinted pool on social media.
Trump on May 1 posted a fake image of himself, shirtless, alongside several senior Trump officials and an unidentified woman as they lounged in the pool. Swimming is not allowed in the pool, which is about 160 feet wide and 2,100 feet long, and was constructed in the early 1920s.
In its filing, the Cultural Landscape Foundation said Trump’s approach to resurface the Reflecting Pool was “part of a pattern” with his other Washington construction projects. They cited his decision to tear down the White House’s East Wing to build his planned ballroom without first seeking authorization from Congress or obtaining approval from federal review panels. A federal judge last month ruled that Trump needed express authorization from Congress before aboveground construction on the ballroom project could continue, a decision that the Trump administration swiftly appealed.
“The notion has been, do the work and ask questions later,” Birnbaum said.
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