Judge orders restoration of national park plaques removed under Trump directive

US District Judge Angel Kelley has ordered the Trump administration to restore all history and science materials that were removed from the nation's public monuments under a March 2025 executive order. The judge found that the White House's actions "set a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization."

The executive order, titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," was signed by Donald Trump in March 2025. It directed the Secretary of the Interior to examine monuments, memorials, and statues to determine if they had been altered after January 2020 to represent a "false construction of American history."

The year 2020 was marked by national protests for racial justice, which spurred the removal of Confederate monuments. Trump's directive was part of a broader effort to roll back Biden-era diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, which the president has described as divisive.

According to a February 2025 lawsuit filed by conservation groups, the executive order led to the removal of signs and materials at national park sites that referenced topics such as slavery, civil rights, Indigenous history, and climate change.

The plaintiffs included the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), the Association of National Park Rangers, and the American Association for State and Local History. Judge Kelley sided with their complaint, writing that the administration sought "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 NPCA, 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, echoed the sentiment: "National parks exist to preserve and interpret the full American story, not just the parts that make some politicians comfortable."

The Trump administration has 21 days to comply with the order. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.