A coalition of organizations has filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior (DOI) over its removal of certain exhibits from National Parks as part of President Donald Trump's executive order on 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.'
In the lawsuit, filed with a Massachusetts District Court on Tuesday, the coalition states that the federal government has "betrayed" the trust of Congress to operate the National Parks "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
The coalition states that it instead has been "mounting a sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science, so the parks no longer 'reflect different cultural backgrounds, ages, education, gender, abilities, ethnicity, and needs' or 'reflect current scientific and academic research.'"
"America's national parks are a living classroom, telling the stories of sacrifice, perseverance, and hope so that every visitor can learn our history and the world around us," said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, the nonprofit public policy research organization representing the organizations in the coalition. "You cannot tell the story of America without recognizing both the beauty and the tragedy of our history."
Newsweek has contacted the DOI via email outside of regular working hours for comment.
Over the past year, the Trump administration's National Park initiatives have been met with mixed responses, in some cases prompting public backlash, in other cases applause.
This is also not the first time a Trump administration National Park policy has sparked legal pushback. After the DOI announced an increase in fees for foreign visitors and new digital "America the Beautiful" passes with the president's face on them, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit claiming the move violated federal law.
Lawmakers also tried to counter a policy removing Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day and Juneteenth from the 2026 National Parks fee-free days with legislation that would codify six permanent fee-free days at all National Parks and federal lands: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday; the first day of National Park Week; Juneteenth; Great American Outdoors Day; National Public Lands Day; and Veterans Day.
After Trump signed the order entitled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' into law on March 27, 2025, the DOI has been reviewing and removing a wide range of exhibits in the country's National Parks because of what the department determined was "concerning" content.
These exhibits covered topics including climate change, sea level rise, LGBTQ rights, slavery, and racism.
A number have now been removed including: an exhibit about slavery at the President's House memorial in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia; a sign at Grand Teton National Park about an explorer who participated in, and bragged about, a massacre of Native Americans; and an LGBTQ Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, a move which prompted a separate lawsuit raised by a group of LGBTQ+ advocates and a Greenwich Village community group.
Following these incidents, on Tuesday, the organizations -- National Parks Conservation Association, American Association for State and Local History, Association of National Park Rangers, Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Society for Experiential Graphic Design, and Union of Concerned Scientists -- joined together to file the lawsuit.
The department previously told Newsweek that under Trump's order it was directed to ensure all public monuments and memorials "do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)," instead focusing on the "greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people."
The spokesperson said the order intended to "ensure parks tell the full and accurate story of American history, including subjects that were minimized or omitted under the last administration."
They added: "That includes fully addressing slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, and other foundational chapters of our history informed by current scholarship and expert review not through a narrow ideological lens."
The lawsuit states that a decade ago Congress "affirmed that the parks play a critical role in the 'shared heritage' of democracy in the United States; must 'reflect different cultural backgrounds, ages, education, gender, abilities, ethnicity, and needs'; must 'use ... a broad program of the highest quality interpretation and education'; and must 'reflect current scientific and academic research.'"
It continues that the federal government is "ignoring these well-established principles and legal requirements as it seeks to erase from the national parks discussion of historic or scientific facts that this administration disfavors."
Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward said in a statement: "You cannot truly love America without understanding our country's true history and what it teaches about the country we must work together to build and the country that we can be. The president's effort to erase history and science in our national parks violates federal law and is a disgrace that neither honors our country's legacy nor its future. Democracy Forward is honored to work with these organizations each committed to telling America's story to hold the administration accountable and protect the benefits national parks offer all who visit."
Bill Wade, Executive Director of the Association of National Park Rangers said in a statement: "Our members current and former employees of National Park Service have worked for decades to tell true accurate stories visitors national parks. To deprive visitors those stories even should no longer proud incomplete information unthinkable. We want see erasure sanitizing history science halted damage already done repaired."
Alan Spears National Parks Conservation Association Senior Director Cultural Resources said statement: "In filing litigation together taking stand soul national parks. Censoring science erasing America's history national parks direct threats everything amazing places country stand for. National parks serve living classrooms country science history come life visitors. We people deserve demand national park system tells true stories Black communities Indigenous tribes countless fascinating chapters history. As Americans we deserve national parks tell stories our country's triumphs heartbreaks alike. We can handle truth."
The group has demanded that Secretary's Order 3431, the directive resulting in the review and removal of National Park exhibits, be declared "unlawful," and for the court to "set aside the Secretary's Order as arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, and in excess of statutory authority."