National Park Service crew members remove interpretive panels from the President’s House Site in Philadelphia in January 2026, actions that later prompted a federal lawsuit and a Presidents Day court order requiring restoration. Photo courtesy of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
By Gina Hill | Alaska Headline Living | February 2026
PHILADELPHIA – On Presidents Day, February 16, 2026, a federal judge in Pennsylvania issued a ruling requiring the Trump administration to restore a long‑standing slavery history exhibit at the President’s House Site in Independence National Historical Park. The decision comes in a lawsuit filed by the City of Philadelphia challenging the National Park Service’s removal last month of educational materials that told the stories of people enslaved by George Washington when he lived in Philadelphia during his presidency.
The lawsuit, filed in late January in U.S. District Court, alleged that workers removed interpretive panels and other display materials without notice, violating a 2006 cooperative agreement between the City and the Park Service. The complaint argued that the displays relating to enslaved persons were “an integral part of the exhibit” and that their removal was a “material alteration” done without the city’s consent or a reasoned explanation.
In her written decision on Presidents Day, U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe granted the city’s motion for a preliminary injunction and ordered the federal government to “restore the President’s House Site to its physical status as of January 21, 2026,” the day before the panels were taken down. The judge also directed that the items be treated with care and remain secure, and that no “replacement materials” be installed without mutual agreement while the litigation continues.
Judge Rufe described the removal as “arbitrary and capricious,” a legal standard under the Administrative Procedure Act that courts use to review federal agency actions. In court filings and hearings leading up to the Presidents Day order, she repeatedly rejected the government’s suggestion that a president could unilaterally remove historical panels from national parks without regard to preexisting agreements.
The panels told the stories of nine individuals enslaved in the President’s House during the 1790s, including biographical details and context about slavery’s role in the early republic. According to the City’s complaint, those interpretive materials were created through years of research and collaboration and had been on display for over a decade.
Philadelphia’s case argued that the Park Service’s unilateral removal violated the cooperative agreement’s provision requiring both parties’ participation in design and changes to the exhibit. The complaint said that without the City’s approval, the Park Service lacked legal authority to remove or alter panels that reflected historical facts about enslaved people at the site.
The exhibits were dismantled on January 22, 2026, by National Park Service crews acting under a directive from the Department of the Interior to review interpretive materials at federal historical sites. The City’s lawsuit was filed that same day.
Judge Rufe did not set a specific deadline for restoration in her Presidents Day order, but her injunction requires that the removed items be reinstated before the lawsuit is finally resolved. Her ruling blocks the Trump administration from making further changes to the display while the legal dispute continues.
The case remains pending. Both sides are expected to file additional briefs and the federal government may seek to appeal the injunction.
