Judge orders slavery exhibits restored at George Washington’s Philadelphia home
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to restore slavery-related exhibits that the National Park Service removed from the Presidential House last month.
U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe’s ruling requires the federal government to restore the site to its “physical condition as of January 21, 2026,” the day before the exhibits are removed.
The order did not set a deadline for restoration but required the National Park Service to take steps to preserve the site and secure exhibits commemorating the enslaved people who lived in George Washington’s home in Philadelphia during his presidency.
Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, likened the Trump administration’s claim that it could unilaterally control exhibits in national parks to the Ministry of Truth in “1984,” George Orwell’s novel about a dystopian totalitarian regime.
“This Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims – to distort and dismantle historical facts while having a domain over historical facts,” Rufe wrote. “It’s not like that.”
The administration’s push to replace the President’s House is part of a nationwide push to remove content exhibits at national parks that “inappropriately disparage past or living Americans,” under orders issued last year by President Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. For example, Park Service workers removed signs about the mistreatment of Native Americans in the Grand Canyon.
Philadelphia filed a federal lawsuit against Burgum and Acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron and her agents the same day the exhibits were distributed.
The federal government has the option to appeal the judge’s decision. The Department of the Interior, the National Park Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately comment on the decision, which falls on Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday.
At a hearing last month, Rufe called the claim that a president could unilaterally change exhibits in national parks “appalling” and “dangerous.” He ordered the federal government to secure the panels following an inspection and a visit to the President’s House earlier this month.
Monday’s decision follows an updated request for an injunction from the city, which calls for not only the safe preservation of the exhibits but also the full restoration of the site. In response, the federal government’s brief argued that the National Park Service has discretion over exhibits and that the city’s lawsuit should be dismissed on procedural grounds.
The federal government also argued that removing the exhibits would not cause irreparable harm because they were documented online and that replacement panels would cost $20,000.
But the judge found that the city had met its burden.
“If the President’s House has been fractured throughout this dispute, the history it tells and the city’s relationship to that history has also been fractured,” Rufe wrote.
The interim injunction itself does not resolve the main case and is valid for the duration of the case.
Less than an hour before the Revenge of the Ancestors Coalition’s Presidents Day event in the region, the main advocacy organization leading the fight to protect the President’s House, leaders received news of their victory.
“To all of you, thanks to your presence and activism, I have great news: We won in federal court,” Michael Coard, leader of the Black-led advocacy group that helped develop the site before it opened in 2010, told the crowd of about 100 people gathered at the Presidential House.
But advocates said the fight wasn’t over, saying Coard expected the Trump administration to object or ignore any future decisions.
“This is a lawless administration. The people will have to take over to force them to do the right thing,” Coard said.
Gutman and Roth write for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
