Judge Orders Trump Admin to Restore National Park Exhibits
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- Judge Angel Kelley issued a preliminary injunction Friday in Massachusetts ordering the Trump administration to restore National Park changes made under an executive order banning displays that 'inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.'
- The ruling paused additional changes and required the administration to submit weekly status reports on its progress restoring the removed content.
- The February lawsuit was brought by conservation and historical organizations, including the National Parks Conservation Association and the Association of National Park Rangers, who alleged NPS policies forced staff to remove factually accurate exhibits on slavery and climate change.
- Removed exhibits included information on nine people enslaved at Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park in the 1790s under George Washington, a sign at Arizona's Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument containing a Pride flag image, and labor history films at Massachusetts's Lowell National Historical Park.
- Trump's executive order, titled 'restoring truth and sanity to American history,' was signed last year, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum later directed removal of 'improper partisan ideology' from federal exhibits.
- Alan Spears of the NPCA called the ruling a check on efforts 'to erase history and science,' while Bill Wade of the Association of National Park Rangers said it was good news for employees committed to 'truthful, accurate and unbiased information.'
Why it matters: The injunction forces the administration to reinstate exhibits on slavery at Independence Hall, climate science, and labor history at sites where park staff said they had been ordered to censor factually accurate content. With weekly status reports now required and a pause on further removals, the ruling gives conservation groups an enforceable lever until the case is resolved — and hands federal employees a legal shield against carrying out the removals.
