Judge OKs suit aimed at halting Obama library in Chicago

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge today gave the green light to a lawsuit filed by a parks-advocacy group that aims to stop for good the delayed construction of former President Barack Obama's $500 million presidential center in a Chicago park beside Lake Michigan.

Some supporters of the project fear the lawsuit filed by Protect Our Parks could force Obama – who launched his political career in Chicago – to build the Obama Presidential Center elsewhere. A 2016 lawsuit brought by another group helped to scuttle a $400 million plan by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas to build a museum on public land on Chicago's lakefront. That museum is now under construction in Los Angeles.

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey heard arguments last week on the city's motion to dismiss the suit and was largely focused on the question of whether the group had standing to sue. His ruling doesn't mean the group will necessarily prevail, but confirms the suit poses a formidable threat to the project.

Plans call for the center to be built in Jackson Park, which was named after President Andrew Jackson and was a site for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The site 7 miles south of downtown Chicago is near low-income neighborhoods where Obama once worked as a community organizer and is just blocks from the University of Chicago, where Obama was a law professor. It is also close to the home where the Obamas lived until he won the presidency in 2008.

The center was originally slated to open in 2021, though ground hasn't yet broken because of the lingering litigation.