Attorneys General Brian Schwalb and Jay Jones filed the suit Oct. 31 against the National Park Service, the Interior Department and their leaders, Jessica Bowron and Doug Burgum.

The timing is the point. The administration has said ground could be broken as soon as Nov. 5, the day the National Capital Planning Commission meets to consider final approval, if Interior also issues its own final decision. Per CBS News, the complaint says irreparable harm would begin "as soon as Defendants break ground."

The complaint runs to eight counts, including violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. It also alleges that the arch breaks the Height of Buildings Act, which generally caps buildings on D.C. business streets at 130 feet, and that Congress never authorized it as the Commemorative Works Act requires, according to Newsweek's account of the filing. The jurisdictions say construction would snarl traffic between the District and Virginia, strain emergency services, send stormwater runoff into the Potomac and block the sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House.

"In their rush to break ground on the Arch, Defendants have made only half-hearted gestures at complying with these requirements," the lawyers wrote. "This is not the first time that Defendants have rushed to dramatically remake the District too quickly for courts to intervene," they added.

Schwalb said construction would cause "serious, immediate and irreparable harm to the District and its residents." Jones called the arch an "illegal vanity project." A White House spokesman responded that it would be "one of the most iconic landmarks" in the world, and the Park Service and Interior did not respond to requests for comment, according to Yahoo News.

The filing came the day after the veterans' case against the arch got its hearing. At the Oct. 30 hearing in Washington, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan did not rule but said she would move expeditiously, and she pressed the government on the rush. "What's the harm to the government to wait three or four months? What's the rush to put this arch up?" she asked, and asked whether the president's main desire was to "bedazzle the city," according to courtroom reports. On national security, she asked whether the arch is supposed to deter assassination attempts, adding, "It's going to be completed three years from now."