US Court Lets Trump Keep Slavery Monuments Removed For Now

WASHINGTON, July 3 (dpa) – The Trump administration does not have to restore monuments and displays about slavery, racism and other topics to national parks and public spaces for now, after an appeals court on Thursday lifted a temporary order requiring it to reverse the removals.

The case concerns changes to public displays and commemorative sites carried out since last year at the direction of US President Donald Trump. In March 2025, Trump ordered the Interior Department to review all memorials, plaques, statues and similar displays to determine whether they portrayed US history in a negative light.

The executive order, titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," cited what Trump described as a broad attempt to recast the country's history as racist and oppressive. Wherever that was deemed to be the case, exhibitions, monuments or inscriptions were to be changed or removed.

Plaques addressing slavery subsequently disappeared across the country, including at the former Philadelphia home of George Washington.

References to climate change, which Trump does not consider a threat, were also removed in many places. Several history, conservation and science groups sued over the measures.

Around three weeks ago, a federal judge in Boston issued a temporary injunction blocking the administration's actions. The judge said the administration was seeking to "rewrite the nation’s history with a white-out pen."

Her order was directed at the National Park Service, which oversees national parks and is also responsible for public monuments. The judge ordered all monuments and displays removed under the executive order to be restored within 21 days.

The administration no longer has to do so for now. A ruling on the substance of the case is still pending.

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