Federal judge orders restoration of removed historical exhibits in national parks
A Boston federal judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Interior Department to reinstall signs and exhibits on subjects such as slavery and climate change that had been taken down under a Trump administration directive.
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U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston granted a preliminary injunction on Friday ordering the Interior Department to restore exhibits and signage removed from national parks and monuments across the United States. The order responds to a lawsuit filed by the National Parks Conservation Association, the American Association for State and Local History and four other groups representing conservationists, historians and scientists.
The plaintiffs contend that the department’s policy of removing displays on topics including slavery and climate change violated congressional statutes governing the operation of more than 430 park sites and lacked a reasoned justification.
Kelley said the removal “undermines the integrity of the National Parks” and set “a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization.” She ordered the signs be reinstated within 21 days, ahead of the parks’ 250th anniversary, to “properly honor the remarkable achievements of the United States.”
The policy stemmed from an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March 2025, which directed the department to address what the administration described as a “revisionist movement” that it said portrayed the United States as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” An Interior Department spokesperson previously said the rule required parks to “tell the full and accurate story of American history.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs and an Interior Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
