Judge Orders Trump To Reinstate Woke Propaganda At National Parks

A federal judge on Friday ordered President Donald Trump to reinstate national park signs that promoted left-wing talking points about things like climate change, condemnation of American historical figures, and LGBT ideology after the administration ordered their removal.

Biden-appointed Judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts ordered that the signs and other material be restored by July 3, the day before America’s 250th birthday.

Trump began the removal in March 2025 with an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” This order criticizes the Biden administration for its “corrosive ideology” that characterizes the United States as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” The order directed the U.S. Department of the Interior to ensure markers and memorials overseen by the DOI “do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

Several organizations, including the National Parks Conservation Association and the American Association for State and Local History, brought a lawsuit to counter these efforts, which they characterized as “erasure of American history and science.” Democracy Forward, a leftist-aligned legal organization, represented these clients and others.

The ruling identifies signage removed after Trump’s order, including “portions” of exhibits at Grand Canyon National Park portraying “settlers, cattle ranchers, and tourists as negatively impacting the land for their own benefit.” A sign that included a pride flag at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and various signs warning about things like man-made climate change and “air pollution” were also removed, according to Kelley.

One sign at Muir Woods National Monument stated: “ALERT: HISTORY UNDER CONSTRUCTION.” The poster — which was plastered to a trail sign describing the park’s heritage — highlighted “the racist ideology of many people who helped to protect this place.” Another edit to the original trail marker specifically criticized the park’s namesake, John Muir, for using “racist language” in his diary. These annotations, which were removed after a Federalist inquiry, are among the signs that will likely be reinstated under Kelley’s ruling.

In her 63-page ruling, Kelley did not hide her political activism or eagerness to defend promoting woke agendas at taxpayer-funded national parks.

“From the echoes of abolition in John Brown’s Fort in Harpers Ferry, to the genesis of the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement at the Stonewall National Monument, to the retreating ice of Glacier National Park in Alaska, the National Parks preserve the multifaceted and multi-layered history of our Nation, including the good, the bad, and the ugly,” she wrote before lecturing the Trump administration on its “responsibility to present history in full.”

Kelley went on to smear the Trump administration’s efforts as “telling half-truths” “under the guise of promoting American dignity.” Her order also barred the administration from making any other changes to “interpretive material” at national park sites.

The National Park Service is not the only institution that has been affected by leftist ideology in recent years. The Trump administration has also launched efforts to weed out radical leftist propaganda from the Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington D.C., including launching an internal review of museum programming last year.

Although the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino is still in progress and does not yet have a building, a preview exhibit located in the American History Museum featured propaganda promoting mass immigration and suggesting that founding-era leaders like Benjamin Franklin “feared non-White immigration,” The Federalist’s Breccan Thies previously reported. Similarly, the American History Museum undermined Benjamin Franklin’s scientific accomplishments, apparently caring more about his ownership of slaves than his achievements.

Since Trump took office, lower court judges have issued numerous injunctions in attempts to block the president’s agenda. Kelley’s recent decision is yet another case of an activist judge essentially legislating against the Trump administration. The DOI said that Kelley is a “liberal activist judge” in a statement to Fox News, adding that the agency is reviewing appeal options.

Skye Graham is an intern at The Federalist. She is a senior History major at Hillsdale College and serves as the assistant features editor for the Hillsdale Collegian.