Judge orders Trump administration to restore signs changed at national parks

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the Trump administration to restore all signs that were changed or removed at national parks across the country as part of President Donald Trump’s controversial directive last year.

In a scathing 63-page ruling on Friday, Judge Angel 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.”

Kelley, an appointee of President Joe Biden, ordered that the restoration be complete by July 3, ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday. In the ruling, she also blocked the Trump administration from making any further changes to exhibits at national parks.

In a statement on Saturday, an Interior Department spokesperson called Kelley “a liberal activist judge” and suggested that the department could appeal the ruling.

“The Department will look at our appeal options while we celebrate UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House this weekend in honor of our nation’s 250th with the greatest president in the history of our country – President Donald J. Trump,” the statement read.

Friday’s ruling comes as part of a lawsuit filed by coalition of conservationists and advocates in February against the Interior Department and the National Park Service that accused the administration of “mounting a sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science.”

In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which directed the Interior Department to “take action” against public content that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

Under the directive, at least 45 signs that covered topics ranging from climate change to Native American history were altered, according to Save Our Signs, an advocacy group that tracks changes to NPS displays.

In one example cited in the February lawsuit and referred to in Friday’s ruling, a marker at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming that pointed out 19th century explorer Gustavus Cheyney Doane’s role in the massacre of at least 173 members of the Piegan Blackfeet was removed.

At South Carolina’s Fort Sumter National Monument, a sign that included details on the looming impacts of climate change, including information on how “rising seas could inundate most of the fort’s walls and flood the historic parade ground” was removed in its entirety.

Alan Spears, the senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association — one of the groups that filed the February lawsuit — celebrated Friday’s ruling, telling CNN it’s a “big damn deal.”

“This is, we think, a good, favorable, just ruling from the judge that puts a stop, at least temporarily, to the sanitization, censorship and softening of history as it’s told in our national parks,” Spears said. He added that the ruling would allow national park visitors to “go back to business as usual, which is getting the full scope of American history from our national parks and the interpretation that our parks provide.”

Spears went on to describe national parks as “one of the largest stewards of American history and culture in the country.”

“So when you start messing around with the kind of interpretation that the park service is able to provide, that’s a problem because they’ve been working throughout their history, but specifically over the last 30 years, to tell stories that are more accurate, more just, and more inclusive, so that we can inspire more people to care about our parks, to care about the history of this country … and to become better stewards of the land,” Spears added.

Kelley, in her ruling, similarly stressed the educational role of national parks, describing them as “a cornerstone of public learning.”

“Often referred to as ‘America’s largest classroom,’ National Parks serve in that spirit by telling the stories both of those who write history and those who go unheard,” Kelley wrote. “The beauty of history is the unvarnished storytelling of a time gone by and the delivery of undeniable truths.”

She added: “The Government’s stewardship of these park sites thus carries a responsibility to present history in full rather than in favored fragments. Unfortunately, the Government has disregarded these principles.”

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