New lawsuit challenges Trump’s planned 'National Garden of American Heroes'
The suit claims the project ignores laws governing D.C. public land use.
President Donald Trump’s attempt to reshape the Washington, D.C., landscape hit another potential roadblock Monday after a group of preservation and cultural heritage organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging his proposed construction of a “National Garden of American Heroes” in West Potomac Park.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accuses the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service of ignoring a congressional decree that "no new 'commemorative work' shall be located within 'the great cross-axis of the Mall,' an area that includes West Potomac Park."
"The West Potomac Plan is unlawful. Congress has made clear that the National Mall is a 'substantially completed work of civic art' – not a personal sandbox for each President to renovate however he likes," the suit says, in part.
The park, located between the Lincoln Memorial to the north and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial to the south, houses the Korean War Veterans Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.
Like Trump’s other D.C. renovation projects – such as construction of the East Wing Ballroom, resurfacing of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and construction of his proposed "Triumphal Arch" – the suit argues that the changes run roughshod over the federal laws governing use of public land in D.C.
“At every turn, the President and his administration have shirked congressionally required procedures, cut the public and groups with relevant expertise out of their renovation plans, and obfuscated the source of funding for these projects,” the lawsuit said.
"It is beyond comprehension why anyone would sue over an exhibition that celebrates American greatness by highlighting some of the most pivotal figures in our nation’s history," an Interior Department spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.
A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment.
Trump last month announced his plans to house the “National Garden of American Heroes” sculpture garden in West Potomac Park, saying the project would turn a “BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate along our Mighty Potomac River” into “one of the World's most beautiful public spaces.”
“When finished, West Potomac Park will be a World Class Masterpiece with elegant Landscaping, and adorned with Beautiful Statues, and be yet another one of my great projects to make Washington, D.C., the Safest and Most Beautiful Capital in the World,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
According to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the project will include 250 life-sized statues of public figures including the founding fathers, musician Johnny Cash, chef Julia Child, basketball star Kobe Bryant, and boxer Muhammad Ali. The federal government is providing awards of up to $200,000 per statue to artists who can design and create up to three statues for the garden.
However, according to the lawsuit, Congress did not authorize any new commemorative works and that the Trump administration has failed to comply with a series of laws governing the park.
“This disregard for legal requirements is part of the same playbook the administration has used to pursue other recent vanity projects,” the lawsuit said. "At every turn, the President and his administration have shirked congressionally required procedures, cut the public and groups with relevant expertise out of their renovation plans, and obfuscated the source of funding for these projects."
The groups asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to block the Trump administration’s planned changes to the park absent congressional authorization.
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