Analysis of 35,000 Public Comments on Trump Administration's National Park Content Review Reveals Majority Opposition to Policy

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston issued a preliminary injunction on Friday ordering the Trump administration to restore signs and exhibits removed from national parks and monuments nationwide, finding that the Interior Department had engaged in censorship by stripping materials on slavery, climate change, Indigenous peoples, women's rights, and LGBTQ+ history. The removals flowed from President Trump's March 2025 executive order titled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' and a subsequent directive from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum targeting content deemed 'negative about either past or living Americans.' A watchdog group called Save Our Signs documented at least 59 removals or modifications, including exhibits on the nine people enslaved under George Washington at Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, climate threat signage at Fort Sumter, and a pride flag at Stonewall National Monument. Kelley ordered all removed materials reinstated within 21 days, writing that the administration sought 'to rewrite the Nation's history with a white-out pen' and that 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.' Separately, an Associated Press analysis of 35,000 public comments solicited under the program — released through a Sierra Club lawsuit — found that more than half constituted backlash against the policy itself rather than flagging objectionable content. The Interior Department dismissed the ruling as the work of a 'liberal activist judge' and said it would explore appeal options.