In the shadow of a proposed 250-foot triumphal arch, a federal court has become the unlikely arena where questions of memory, symbolism, and power are being contested. Vietnam veterans have mounted a formal legal challenge to halt excavation on the project, and a judge has reinforced an order pausing construction while the merits of their claims are examined. What began as a groundbreaking has instead become a standstill — a reminder that monuments, before they rise from the earth, must first answer to it.