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A justice ordered the National Park Service to reinstall an grounds astir slavery astatine the President's House Site successful Philadelphia.
In a ruling issued Monday, Senior Judge Cynthia M. Rufe ordered the defendants successful the lawsuit — Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, the Department of the Interior, National Park Service Acting Director Jessica Bowron and the National Park Service — to reconstruct the tract to the mode it was connected Jan. 21, the time earlier the signage was removed. They besides indispensable support each of the items safe, unafraid and undamaged, and cannot instal immoderate "replacement materials" without communal statement with the metropolis of Philadelphia portion the litigation is ongoing oregon earlier different bid from the judge.
The bid besides says officials indispensable proceed to decently support the site, including the grounds, video monitors, recordings and exhibits. The bid does not springiness NPS a deadline for restoring the site.
Monday's bid grants the city's latest question for a preliminary injunction and volition beryllium successful effect until the justice issues different ruling.
The exhibits successful question supply accusation astir enslaved radical who lived astatine the tract with Presidents George Washington and John Adams. After Park Service workers removed the signs successful January, the metropolis of Philadelphia filed a suit successful national tribunal seeking to person the displays enactment back. The suit argues that the metropolis has anterior agreements with NPS that necessitate immoderate disputes to beryllium resolved done connection and compromise betwixt the 2 parties.
Rufe begins her memo astir the sentiment with a punctuation from the George Orwell caller "1984" and says the tribunal has been asked "to find whether the national authorities has the powerfulness it claims— to dissemble and disassemble humanities truths erstwhile it has immoderate domain implicit humanities facts."
She continues: "It does not."
A spokesperson with the Interior Department said successful a connection successful January that the displays were removed arsenic the section implements President Trump's enforcement bid "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History."
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the counties surrounding Philadelphia person backed the metropolis successful the suit. Community groups person besides organized protests and rallies calling for the signs to beryllium restored.
In a statement, Rep. Brendan Boyle, who represents Philadelphia successful Congress, said, "I powerfully opposed the Trump Administration's determination to region these exhibits, and I invited the national court's ruling that they indispensable beryllium restored. ... I volition proceed warring to guarantee these exhibits are afloat restored and accessible to the public."
Joe Holden contributed to this report.
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