The Trump administration is asking a federal appeals court to block an order requiring it to restore historical exhibits and materials altered under an executive order ahead of America 250 and July 4.
The Department of the Interior and the National Park Service filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit on Monday evening seeking to overturn a ruling that requires the federal government to reinstate materials removed from national parks and historic sites since May 2025.
If granted, the injunction would stop the full restoration of historical markers, materials, and sites in time for Independence Day celebrations.
“We fully believe politically charged language denigrating our Founding Fathers is inappropriate and only further divides Americans,” an Interior Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “Through President Trump, we have encouraged Americans to visit our cultural and historic sites and engage in meaningful conversations about the moments that have shaped our country.”
“By telling the full story, every triumph, every challenge and every step towards a more perfect union we strengthen our shared understanding and ensure that future generations inherit not just the land we love, but the truth of the journey that brought us here,” they added.
The appeal follows a Friday ruling by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, who issued a preliminary injunction upon the request of plaintiffs alleging the Interior Department engaged in a “sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science.”
Kelley, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, wrote that plaintiffs had shown a likelihood of success, arguing the government’s actions amounted to an attempt to reshape the historical record under the guise of restoration.
“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,” she wrote. “At a time of facts and alternative facts, the only thing we must be able to rely on as undeniable truth is history.”
The dispute traces back to the beginning of President Donald Trump‘s second term, when he signed an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order directed federal agencies to remove what it described as “corrosive ideology” from federally funded historical and cultural institutions.
Trump has argued that over the past decade, people have seen “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history,” replacing “objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”
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He added that this “revisionist movement” undermines the country’s “unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness,” and casts its founding principles as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”
The administration’s appeal now puts the dispute before the 1st Circuit, where judges will decide whether the injunction requiring restoration can remain in place ahead of the July 4 deadline.