Panels that were part of an exhibit on slavery at the President’s House Site in Independence National Historical Park are reinstalled, Feb. 19, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo\/Joe Lamberti, File)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-07-03T20:10:21Z<\/p>\n
An appeals court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump\u2019s administration can reinstall its interpretive panels at the site of President George Washington\u2019s home in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
The signs would be in the same area where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. A National Park Service spokesperson did not immediately return messages asking when the panels could go up.<\/p>\n
The new educational panels were designed to replace ones put up in 2010 that told the story of how nine slaves lived in the home along with George and Martha Washington in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
Their removal grew from Trump\u2019s 2025 executive order<\/a><\/span> calling for for federally owned or controlled historic sites not to have information to \u201cdisparage Americans past or living\u201d and to focus on the \u201cgreatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit of Appeals, which is based in a courthouse across an intersection from the President\u2019s House site, was a technical one to allow implementation of a ruling made last month<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n That ruling, from the same judges \u2014 Trump and former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama each nominated one \u2014 said a lower court was wrong to force the federal government<\/a><\/span> to take down its new panels.<\/p>\n The government asked Thursday for the go-ahead to put them back up, saying that the panels were ready to install and that they should go up \u201cwithout further delay.\u201d The administration has said in court filings that its information also discusses slavery.<\/p>\n