Judge Blocks National Parks From Removing Signs and Displays About Slavery

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the National Park Service from removing or revising signs, films and other interpretive materials at national parks in order to comply with a directive from President Donald Trump. The order pauses enforcement of an executive directive that sought to eliminate or cover materials deemed to “inappropriately disparage Americans” or portray the United States in a negative light.

The ruling was issued by Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She also required the Park Service to restore, within three weeks, any exhibits that had already been dismantled or altered. The decision gives a temporary win to a coalition of advocacy groups that sued in February, while the broader legal challenge continues.

The Park Service had already removed or changed materials at several sites, including plaques about slavery at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, a sign about climate change at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, and a sign about Indigenous people at Acadia National Park in Maine. Another federal judge has separately blocked further changes to the slavery exhibit at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia while a related lawsuit brought by the city proceeds.

In her 63-page ruling, Judge Kelley sharply criticized the administration’s actions, saying the removals undercut the integrity of the national parks and created “a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization.” She noted that national parks are meant to preserve and interpret the nation’s history in full, including difficult and painful chapters as well as the contributions of marginalized communities.

Her opinion opened with examples of historic sites tied to abolition, civil rights, climate change and LGBTQ+ history, arguing that the park system reflects “the good, the bad and the ugly” of American history. The plaintiffs had argued that the removals were arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act and that the Park Service had exceeded its authority.

The Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, signaled that it may appeal. A spokeswoman called the judge a “liberal activist” and said the department would consider its appeal options. In contrast, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, one of the groups behind the lawsuit, praised the ruling as a safeguard against using national parks for partisan messaging.

Following the decision, a Park Service official sent an email to regional supervisors instructing them to pause implementation of Trump’s directive for now. Parks may still submit items for review, but any action to carry out the directive should wait for further guidance.