The city’s Law Department did not have an immediate response to the ruling.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Critics have argued that the new panels would change the overall tone of the site, softening and significantly reducing references to slavery. The Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which led the movement to develop the original site to focus on Washington’s slaves, has said the exhibits are a form of “whitewashing.”
“What we are seeing now is not restoration—it is revision,” the statement read. “It is an attempt to sanitize history and present a version of the past that is more comfortable, but far less truthful,” the coalition said in an April statement.
On Thursday, the group said it was “disappointed” by the Third Circuit’s decision and vowed to continue its fight to ensure “the full truth of our nation’s history is preserved and presented accurately.”
“We are currently conducting a thorough review of the Court’s opinion and consulting with our legal team to fully understand its implications,” the group said in a statement. “As we carefully evaluate the decision, ATAC will consider all available options moving forward.”
How the fight over the exhibit began
Last March, Trump issued a sweeping executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” a directive aimed at reshaping how American history is presented at federal sites. It called for the removal of what it described as “negative” or “disparaging” portrayals of the nation’s founders.
In January, the Park Service removed the entire slavery exhibit at the President’s House, alarming advocates and prompting the city to file a federal lawsuit seeking to restore the panels. Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration called the decision to remove the exhibit “arbitrary and capricious,” violating federal law.
The following month, on Presidents Day, U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia Rufe sided with the city, granting a preliminary injunction that ordered the Park Service to restore the site to its original “physical status” while a lawsuit challenging the removal played out.
In her ruling, Rufe sharply criticized what she called the government’s unilateral decision to remove the exhibit, calling it an attempt to suppress historical information. The judge used a literary reference to drive home her opinion of the government’s rationale, likening the government to the fictional Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s novel “1984.”
Many of the panels were restored the same week, but not all of them.
Less than a week ago, a district judge in Massachusetts ordered the Trump administration to restore the missing plaques. The decision temporarily blocked the Park Service from removing or altering content at federal sites across the country.
It’s now unclear whether the city has any legal options left to stop the administration from installing new panels.
Technically, its lawyers could request a rehearing from the Third Circuit, but Thursday’s unanimous opinion makes that path challenging, legal experts say. Asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the ruling is also viewed as a longshot.
In a video message posted to Facebook on Thursday evening, Mayor Cherelle Parker said she “will pursue every legal action possible” to reverse Thursday’s decision.
“We cannot and we will not rest until the full story of American history, including the existence of slavery at the President’s House, here in our great city of Philadelphia, the birthplace of democracy, is told for our nation and, quite frankly, the world to see,” Parker said.
In the meantime, the Massachusetts ruling appears to bind the Park Service, at least for now.
