Federal judge orders Trump administration to restore removed material to exhibits at US national parks – JURIST

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday ordered Trump officials to restore all signs and exhibits in US national parks that were changed as a part of the administration’s efforts to remove any material from the parks that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

President Donald Trump’s 2025 Executive Order (EO) mandating parks workers to restore “truth and sanity to American history,” resulted a mass censorship effort that removed material honoring Indigenous history, atrocities of slavery, and effects of climate change from several parks, deeming it to be part of an improper partisan agenda.

Under judicial review of the EO, US District Judge Angel Kelly’s preliminary injunction directs officials to restore the information to its original condition within three weeks, deliver reports indicating their progress, and halt any additional ongoing changes. She emphasized that these efforts from the Trump administration were an attempt to improperly rewrite American history in a more favorable light, stating:

The beauty of history is the unvarnished storytelling of a time gone and by and the delivery of undeniable truths. The Government’s stewardship of these park sites thus carries a responsibility to present history in full rather than in favored fragments.

Unfortunately, the Government has disregarded these principles. Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this Administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths.

Parks service workers were required to make changes in May 2025, when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued a corresponding order launching the implementation of the EO by mandating the removal of anything deemed to be “improper partisan ideology” from exhibits and signs.

Kelly’s order resolves a lawsuit filed by the National Parks Conservation Association and other conservation organizations in February, alleging that the order constituted unlawful censorship, violated several federal statutes, and was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Trump administration is required to restore all changes by July 4th, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the US, but they may still appeal the order.

“Because Defendants deemed it important to strip the parks of these undeniable truths in anticipation of the 250th Anniversary of our great Nation, it is equally important that our shared history be honestly told and fully restored by the 250th Anniversary to properly honor the remarkable achievements of the United States,” Kelly wrote.