A coalition of advocacy and historical organizations sued the Trump administration Monday to block plans to build a National Garden of American Heroes on Washington’s National Mall.
The groups are challenging the Interior Department’s plan to repurpose West Potomac Park, a green space dotted with cherry trees in between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial, for the president’s garden, which would include 250 statues of the country’s former presidents, civil rights leaders, artists, entrepreneurs and military generals.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Democracy Forward, argues that the garden proposal violates several federal laws, including the Commemorative Works Act, which requires congressional approval of any new monuments or commemorative works on the National Mall.
The mall is the central civic space in the nation’s capital, originally envisioned by Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s design of the city in 1791.
