President Donald Trump's envisioned National Garden of American Heroes, a statuary ensemble of figures from American history, does not belong in West Potomac Park, a congressionally mandated recreational area, a group of organizations said Monday in filing a lawsuit to derail the president's plan.
Trump called for the garden of 250 larger-than-life-size statues of individuals who have contributed to the United States' cultural, scientific, economic, and political heritage during his first term. Among those the president has said should be honored in the garden are Ansel Adams, Frederick Douglass, Buffalo Bill Cody, and George Washington.
Congress included $40 million for the garden in the One Big Beautiful Bill it passed last July.
More than a century ago, in 1897, Congress mandated that West Potomac Park "be forever held and used as a park for the recreation and please of the people."
In the lawsuit (attached below) filed Monday, the National Parks Conservation Association, DC Preservation League, National Mall Coalition, Olmsted Network, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and D.C. resident Steve Longenecker further maintain that Congress in 2003 passed a law prohibiting any "commemorative work or visitor center" from being built in West Potomac Park.
"With no regard for the site’s historic and recreational features, President Trump has characterized West Potomac Park as 'a totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate,' and announced that his administration would convert the park into a so-called sculpture garden he is calling the 'National Garden of American Heroes' as part of the upcoming celebrations around the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence," the groups' lawsuit said.
"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 44-page filing added. "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 groups in their lawsuit maintain that Trump is trying to "take over public spaces for himself and remake our nation’s capital in his own image, including by demolishing the historic East Wing of the White House; paving over the Rose Garden; and unlawfully emblazoning his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (until ordered otherwise by a court). 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."
Tiernan Sittenfeld, president and CEO of NPCA, said the monuments and spaces within the National Mall and Memorial Parks of Washington, which encompasses West Potomac Park, "are some of the most visited and symbolically significant public spaces anywhere in the world. We’re filing this lawsuit with our partners to ensure that remains the case in West Potomac Park. This invaluable green space is enjoyed by locals and millions of visitors alike for recreation, reflection and commemoration. Our parks are held in trust for every American and for generations to come. Congress put clear laws in place to safeguard the National Mall from new construction and to ensure the public has a meaningful voice in decisions about landscapes that belong to them, as space open to all."
“Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. believed that public landscapes are among our most important democratic institutions. The National Mall and its surrounding parks comprise a nationally significant network of ceremonial and civic spaces that express our shared values and invite public participation in our democracy. West Potomac Park is an essential part of that landscape. For generations, it has provided an open and welcoming place for recreation, reflection, and community at the heart of the nation’s capital. We are joining this coalition because protecting places like West Potomac Park requires more than preserving land—it requires respecting the laws, public engagement, and democratic processes that guide decisions about our shared civic inheritance,” said Sue Breitkopf, President, The Olmsted Network.
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