Advocacy group sues to stop repainting of landmark DC reflecting pool
The reflective pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial is being applied with a new coat of paint on May 5, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
An advocacy group asked a federal judge Monday to immediately stop President Donald Trump’s ongoing project to resurface the Lincoln Memorial's reflecting pool and repaint the bottom of the landmark in a bright blue color.
In a May 11 lawsuit filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., the Cultural Landscape Foundation, an education and advocacy nonprofit, stated that the National Park Service violated the National Historic Preservation Act by starting the resurfacing without first going through an approval process that includes consultation and public review. The process, the complaint said, is supposed to “forestall precisely this kind of unconsidered, wanton destruction of historic properties.”
Trump stated in April that the reflecting pool was “filthy, dirty and it leaked like a sieve for many years,” and that the government was replacing the gray basin with “American flag blue.” He said it would look “more beautiful” than it did when it was first built.
The legal battle is the latest in a string of challenges to Trump’s efforts to remake historical landmarks, including the construction of a White House ballroom. The New York Times reported Monday that the cost of resurfacing and repainting the reflecting pool would be over seven times more than the $1.8 million that Trump had claimed in April.
The project was awarded via a no-bid contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which previously performed work at Trump’s national golf club in Sterling, Virginia, according to the complaint.
Built between 1919 and 1924, the reflecting pool is 2,000 feet long and 160 feet wide. Situated between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, it was designed with a gray achromatic basin to act as a mirror and to create the illusion of great depth and more profound reflection, according to the complaint.
“The vivid blue coating will fundamentally alter the visual and experiential character of the pool and the broader Lincoln Memorial grounds landscape,” according to the complaint. “The new coloration will cause the pool to resemble a large swimming pool, rather than the reflective civic landscape it was designed to be, distorting the experience of the site for the millions of visitors who come to it each year.”
Along with the complaint, the Cultural Landscape Foundation and Charles A. Birnbaum, its founder, filed a motion for a temporary restraining order. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols of the District of Columbia, an appointee during Trump’s first term, has been assigned the case.
The White House and the National Park Service referred requests for comments to the Department of the Interior, which did not immediately respond.
Politico also had coverage.
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