A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate history and science materials removed from the nation’s public monuments, ruling that the White House’s actions “set a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization.” U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts gave the administration 21 days to comply with the order, which stems from a February lawsuit filed by conservation and history organizations.
The lawsuit challenged a March 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order called on the secretary of the interior to examine monuments, memorials, and statues to see if they had been altered after January 2020 to represent what the administration described as a “false construction of American history.” The year 2020 was marked by national protests for racial justice and a public reckoning over race and equity that spurred the removal of statues commemorating Confederate leaders.
Under the directive, the Trump administration removed signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at national parks and other federally managed sites that referenced topics including slavery, civil rights, Indigenous history, and climate change. The administration described the removals as a purge of “corrosive” or “ideological indoctrination” from historical and cultural institutions. The executive order was part of a broader effort to roll back Biden-era diversity, equity, and inclusion policies; Trump has described DEI as divisive and discriminatory against white people.
In her decision, Kelley wrote: “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.”
Alan Spears, senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement: “Americans count on national parks to help us understand our full, rich history. Stories of triumph and tragedy alike deserve to be told out loud at parks.”
Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, another plaintiff, said national parks “exist to preserve and interpret the full American story, not just the parts that make some politicians comfortable. This ruling will help ensure that remains the case.”
The plaintiffs also included the Association of National Park Rangers and the American Association for State and Local History.
A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.