President Donald Trump is facing a fresh legal challenge after his high-profile effort to reshape historical records failed.
The Trump administration lost a legal battle on Monday over an executive order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” to remove an exhibit from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia about nine people enslaved by George Washington.
The order instructed the Interior Department to ensure that the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks do not display anything that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
On Monday, Bush-Appointed U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled that the exhibit should be reinstated while the lawsuit plays out, citing George Orwell’s 1984, writing, “As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts.”
“It does not,” she said.
The Interior Department said Tuesday it has appealed the court’s ruling, while White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers called the lawsuit premature and based on “inaccurate and mischaracterized information.”
Now, a new lawsuit has been filed against the administration by a coalition of conservation and historical organizations, who contend that National Park Service policies are stripping America’s national parks of both history and science.
The suit claims that orders from Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have targeted displays covering slavery, civil rights, Indigenous history, and climate change, and other “core elements of the American experience.”
Examples include signage at Grand Canyon National Park describing how settlers displaced Native tribes, and exhibits at Glacier National Park detailing the impact of climate change on the park’s glaciers.
At the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, roughly 80 items have reportedly been flagged for removal, while a permanent exhibit at Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park was cited for using the word “equity.”
Separately, LGBTQ+ advocates and historic preservationists sued the National Park Service over the removal of a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York. Installed in 2022 as the first permanent Pride banner on federal land, the flag was removed under a memo limiting displays to the Interior and POW/MIA flags, despite exceptions for historical context.
The lawsuit claims the removal is “the latest example in a long line of efforts by the Trump administration to target the LGBTQ+ community for discrimination and opprobrium.”
New York officials raised a replacement flag at the site on Tuesday.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Alan Spears, senior director of cultural resources at the Parks Conservation Association, told the Associated Press that removing science and historical content from national parks undermines their core mission. He argued that parks are “living classrooms” meant to present the full story of the nation—including both its achievements and its painful chapters—adding, “We can handle the truth.”
“Censoring science and erasing America’s history at national parks are direct threats to everything these amazing places, and our country, stand for,” he said.
“National parks serve as living classrooms for our country, where science and history come to life for visitors. As Americans, we deserve national parks that tell stories of our country’s triumphs and heartbreaks alike. We can handle the truth.”
Senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association Kristen Brengel told the Washington Post that the White House’s efforts should “offend every American.”
“We are capable of hearing about our tragedies and our victories, and this systematic erasure should concern everyone in our country.”
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