A Biden-appointed federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore exhibits and other materials at national parks that highlighted the ownership of enslaved people by George Washington and climate threats.

Background

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction requiring the administration to reverse the changes and pause any further removals amid legal challenges. The move comes amid the America 250 celebrations that will crescendo on July 4.

The Interior Department in a statement called Kelley a ‘liberal activist judge’ and said it was reviewing its options to appeal its removal of what Secretary Doug Burgum rebuked as ‘improper partisan ideology.’ Trump’s March 27, 2025 executive order, ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,’ sought to restore American heritage to national parks and monuments that were ‘changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history’ after the race riots of 2020.

Among the materials Burgum’s Interior removed were an exhibit at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park describing the ownership of enslaved people by George Washington, the nation’s first president, and signage detailing climate threats at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Reaction

Kelley wrote that the plaintiffs had shown the administration’s actions were meant ‘to rewrite the Nation’s history with a white-out pen,’ Trump said he had issued the order because of the ‘false reconstruction’ of U.S. history under Biden, the president that appointed her.

The judge also ordered the administration to file weekly status reports detailing its progress in restoring the affected materials.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.