Judge Chutkan issued an order requiring 48 hours' notice before the government conducts any work beyond preliminary archaeological excavation.
Posted by The Lawfare Podcast, Checked
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- 6 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
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The Lawfare PodcastSep 14, 2026
The September 4, 2026 minute order in Lemmon v. Trump requires the government to give the court 48 hours' notice before engaging in any activity on Memorial Circle other than on-site archaeological information gathering, which matches the claim's core.
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This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… So that's all we're doing, and and and and it's actually a little more than you might think. It's like they're they plan to do four pits, each one eight feet by 16 feet and of unspecified depth, so it's a lot of excavation. But anyway, so Judge Chutkin, not wanting to take any chance, said issued a quick order before anyone even fully responded and said, Okay, you need to give the court 48 hours' notice before you do more than this preliminary archaeological excavation, and that apparently has so since then, the government is saying, Look, that's all we ever meant. We can go back to the April consent order, but now your order, your 48 hour order, is causing us problems because there was an auto accident on September 7th, …
The Lawfare Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. The court's September 4 minute order requires Defendants to provide 48 hours' notice before engaging in any activity on Memorial Circle other than on-site information gathering regarding archaeological resources.[2]
Supports. Reuters and AP report that Judge Chutkan ordered 48 hours' notice before any site activity beyond archaeological work, and USA Today, Bloomberg Law and ENR report the same exemption for archaeological information gathering.[1][3][4][5]
Supports. A later October 30 UPI report says Chutkan had already ordered 48 hours' advance notice before work begins, so the order remained in effect after the claim was posted.[6]
Context. The order was issued by Judge Tanya Chutkan, not the speaker, and the post's own words describe it as a quick order issued before the government responded. The claim's wording ('before the government conducts any work beyond preliminary archaeological excavation') is a faithful paraphrase of the post's statement.[2][7]
Sources
7 sources: 1 fact-checker, 6 not rated
- 1Trump wants to use Washington arch as military complex ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2LEMMON v. TRUMP, 1:26-cv-00544 - CourtListener.comcourtlistener.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 3Judge reinforces order halting immediate work on Trump’s 250 ...usatoday.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 4Judge Sets Notice Rules as Trump Arch Site Testing Nears - ENRenr.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5Court Orders Administration to Give Notice Before Arch Work (2)news.bloomberglaw.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Judge skeptical of administration claims in emergency arch hearing - UPI.comupi.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7Lawsuit over Trump's 'Great Triumphal Arch' heats up in DClawandcrime.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- In April 2026, Judge Chutkan issued a consent agreement in the Lemon versus Trump case requiring 14 days' notice before proceeding with construction.True
- In the case Lemon versus Trump, Judge Chutkin previously issued a consent agreement requiring 14 days' notice before moving forward with the Great Triumphal Arch.True
- Judge Chutkin ordered the administration to provide 48 hours' notice before doing any work on the Great Triumphal Arch.True
- Judge Reyes requested that the government inform the court before cutting down more than 10 trees in East Potomac Park.True
- Judge Giacob in the National Urban League case extended a deadline for a pocket rescission.True