A U.S. district court has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to halt the removal and ‘censorship’ of exhibits related to slavery, climate change signage, civil rights, and other aspects of American history at national parks across the country.

In a preliminary injunction on Friday, district judge Angel Kelley in Boston also ordered the administration to restore all “interpretative” exhibits that had been “altered, removed, or damaged” within 21 days.

Mr Trump, on March 27, 2025, issued an executive order titled ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History’, directing federal agencies to review and remove material he said had been written to change America’s history.

In the order, Mr Trump alleged that former President Joe Biden’s administration had altered statues, monuments, and other materials under the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction in ways he said were to “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history”.

“This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive,” Mr Trump said.

The Department of the Interior implemented the policy on May 20, 2025, directing parks to review, audit, and remove history and science materials deemed “disparaging” to the nation’s history, including educational signs.  

“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,” the judge ruled.

She added, “Not only does this undermine the integrity of the national parks, but it sets a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitisation.”

The judge urged the Trump administration not to make further alterations to the National Park Service (NPS) sites.

The judge ordered the government to file reports on the steps taken to demonstrate compliance with all orders every five days and weekly thereafter.

The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and organisations, including the National Parks Conservation Association and the Association of National Park Rangers.

Gretchen Goldman, the president and CEO of UCS, described the ruling as “a win for science.”

“National parks are America’s largest classroom, and removing science and history from these places isn’t just wrong, it’s a direct attack on the public’s access to factual information,” she explained. “You don’t protect our national parks by sanitising them—you protect them by telling the full story, including the science of climate change.”

Similarly, Alan Spears, the senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, lauded the ruling, stating that it protects the national parks from the Trump administration’s “unprecedented campaign to erase history and science” at parks.

Other organisations, including the American Association for State and Local History, the Association of National Park Rangers, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, and the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD), also commended the ruling.

Mr Trump’s order and its subsequent implementation were criticised by Congressional Democrats, senators, and civil society organisations, who described it as an attack on history.