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2h ago

Judge Denies Stay as Park Service Reinstalls Philadelphia Slavery Panels Ahead of Deadline

The order enforces a 2006 agreement giving Philadelphia a role in the President’s House exhibit.

People gather as panels that were part of an exhibit on slavery at the President's House Site in Philadelphia are put back Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)
National Parks Service workers gather as panels that were part of an exhibit on slavery at the President's House Site in Philadelphia are put back Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)
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Overview

  • U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe refused to pause her injunction Friday, keeping in place a 5 p.m. deadline to fully restore the exhibits at the President’s House on Independence Mall.
  • The National Park Service began reattaching the signage on Thursday and confirmed the returning pieces are the same panels removed in January.
  • The Trump administration has appealed to the Third Circuit, arguing the federal government controls National Park Service interpretive content and claiming the injunction compels government speech.
  • Rufe’s earlier ruling compared the removal to Orwell’s '1984,' ordered preservation of all materials, and barred new interpretive changes at the site without agreement.
  • The panels had been taken down on Jan. 22 following Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s directive implementing the president’s 2025 order to remove content officials deemed disparaging.