US judge temporarily blocks Trump's arch project after panel approval

A United States federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from breaking ground on a proposed 250-foot (76-meter) memorial arch for two weeks, shortly after it won a key approval from a public commission.

The temporary restraining order comes as a setback for one of the most prominent projects in Trump's vision to remake the US capital to his tastes. 

The Trump administration claims that Congress approved the construction of a monument at the site more than 100 years ago. But that plan envisioned two large columns, signifying the northern states and the southern states in the US Civil War and not an arch.

"The sheer improbability ​that a 100-year-old statute would contain authority, unknown to every previous administration, to erect a 250-foot arch at a principal location in the nation's capital indicates how far (the government) ​must stretch to justify this project," US District ‌Judge Tanya Chutkan said, issuing Friday's order.