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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is facing a new lawsuit as he continues his building spree in the nation's capital.A coalition of six preservation and cultural groups filed a lawsuit on June 15 against the Trump administration over the president’s plan to build a statuary garden at West Potomac Park on the National Mall. The groups argued that the site of the garden runs afoul of federal laws and has not been authorized by Congress.The project, the National Garden of American Heroes, is slated to feature 250 statues of historical figures from America’s past who have contributed to the nation's cultural, scientific, economic and political heritage, commemorating the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.USA TODAY has reached out to the White House for comment.West Potomac Park, located between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial and home to the famous century-old Japanese cherry trees, was described by Trump as a “totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate along our Mighty Potomac River,” in a May 15 Truth Social post.“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 groups alleged in the lawsuit. “To that end, Congress has decreed that no new ‘commemorative work’ shall be located within 'the great cross-axis of the Mall,' an area that includes West Potomac Park.”The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the latest among a spate of litigation opposing several construction projects the president has backed in Washington, including the White House ballroom, the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center, the Triumphal Arch and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.Trump first pushed for the creation of the garden in 2020 through an executive order so it could be completed by July 4, 2026. That order was revoked the following year by former President Joe Biden.Within 10 days of retaking the White House, Trump revived the plan. On Jan. 29, 2025, he established the White House Task Force on Celebrating America's 250th Birthday and reinstated his 2020 order on the garden. The order also altered the timeline for the project to be "as expeditiously as possible."The lawsuit alleges the plan violates federal laws, including the Commemorative Works Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.In July 2025, Congress appropriated $40 million to the National Endowment for the Humanities to remain available through fiscal year 2028, “for the procurement of statues as described in” Trump's executive orders.According to the NEH, which invited grant application from would-be artists last April, the maximum award money per life-size statue would be $200,000 and must be made of marble, granite, bronze, copper or brass. Among the luminaries identified for the statues are boxer Muhammad Ali, women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony, jazz singer Louis Armstrong, chef and author Julia Child and astronaut Neil Armstrong.Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
