A federal court has ordered the Trump administration to restore signs about climate change and Wabanaki history it had removed from Acadia National Park.
The signs were taken down last year under orders from President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The orders professed to "restore truth and sanity to American history" and directed the Interior Department to identify and remove materials that disparaged Americans past and present.
But U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley said the removals violated federal laws related to national parks and the administration was sought "to rewrite the nation's history with a white-out pen."
"History cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our Nation’s story," Judge Kelley said.
Trump's March 2025 order led to the removal from parks nationwide of materials related to the history of slavery, indigenous nations, women and environmental damage.
Opponents, led by the National Parks Conservation Association, filed suit, alleging the removals violated federal law and were an attempt to censor and obscure the nation's past.
In a preliminary injunction issued Friday, Judge Kelley said the government's actions dismantled objective historic truths and permanently damaged public memory.
"Behind the incendiary rhetoric lies little substance, lacking even a remote amount of scientific rigor, facts, legal authority or discernable reasoning," Judge Kelley said.
The judge ordered the government to restore signs within 21 days, just in time for the country's 250th anniversary on July 4. The order also bans the government from removing any more material and requires it to report on its progress putting the material back.
In an interview Todd Martin of the National Parks Conservation Association said it was thrilled with Judge Kelley's ruling.
"People go to national parks to learn about American history, and so we feel that when people visit our national parks including Acadia National Park, they deserve to see the full history, uncensored," Martin said.
In a statement, the Interior Department said the "ruling is from a Biden appointed judge. The Department is looking for our appeal options."
