By Nate Raymond
BOSTON, July 2 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Thursday lifted a judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to reinstall dozens of exhibits that it removed from national parks on topics such as slavery and climate change.
A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold a judge’s order requiring the National Park Service to reinstall exhibits that it removed under President Donald Trump’s directive targeting displays that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
Boston-based U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley had last month concluded the displays were removed from the nation’s parks as part of the administration’s unlawful effort to “rewrite the nation’s history with a white-out pen.”
She had reached that conclusion in a lawsuit by groups representing park conservationists, historians and scientists who accused the administration of engaging in a concerted censorship campaign aimed at erasing aspects of American history that did not conform with Trump’s ideals.
But a panel of the 1st Circuit comprised only of judges appointed by Democratic presidents agreed to put Kelley’s ruling on hold while the administration appeals it, saying the government was likely to prevail.
The U.S. Department of Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, and lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Cynthia Osterman)
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