U.S. Seeks to Dismiss Complaint Against World War II Memorial

Clinton administration lawyers have asked a federal judge to dismiss a complaint by a group seeking to thwart construction of a World War II memorial between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

In papers that were released Wednesday, Assistant Atty. Gen. Lois Schiffer argued that the defendants in the case, including the Interior Department, “deny that the plaintiffs are entitled to any of the relief they request.”

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt also is a defendant.

The complaint, filed in the court of U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy in October, charges that the memorial would harm the historic Mall, the grassy expanse that stretches from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. The complaint said the monument, as planned, also would block the public passageway between the prized memorials dedicated to Presidents Lincoln and Washington.

Among groups filing the suit were the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, World War II Veterans to Save the Mall, Committee of 100 on the Federal City and the D.C. Preservation League.

The critics said in the complaint that they disliked the approved design of the memorial: two rounded rows of 17-foot columns adjoining a central pool. They said it too closely resembles earlier European monuments.

The Justice Department’s reply brief argued that the court would have jurisdiction only if a building permit had been issued.

John Parsons, who has been in charge of the project at the National Park Service, said the service was reviewing the draft of a permit with the American Battle Monuments Commission, the official sponsor of the memorial.

The complaint asked Kennedy to disallow issuing any permit for construction. But Andrea Ferster, an attorney for the opponents, acknowledged in an interview that, in practical terms, an injunction could only be issued as a result of a motion to the court that has not yet been filed.