A federal judge quoted author George Orwell in a lengthy opinion on Monday ordering the Trump administration to restore the slavery exhibits displayed at Philadelphia’s President’s House before their removal last month.
The exhibits, which consisted of memorials to the enslaved people owned by former President George Washington, were taken down at the request of federal officials to comply with a directive from President Donald Trump requiring that government signage not “inappropriately disparage” historical figures.
“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts,” District Judge Cynthia Rufe wrote in her ruling, following an excerpt from the novel that highlights a totalitarian government erasing its history.
“It does not,” she continued.
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As part of a nationwide review of signage at Smithsonian museums and National Parks, the Trump administration has been removing historical signage with references to slavery and references to Trump’s impeachment.
On Jan. 22, administration officials in Philadelphia removed a descriptive placard at the home of Washington titled “The Dirty Business of Slavery” that depicted the city’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. The plaque also served as a memorial to the enslaved people kept by Washington at the property.
Philadelphia immediately sued the Interior Department and National Park Service for removing the signs, arguing they violated a standing agreement between the city and the federal government to maintain the site.
At a tense first court hearing, Rufe chastised U.S. Attorney Gregory in den Berken for talking out of “both sides of his mouth” and making “dangerous” arguments. Berken, in defense of the federal government, defended the signs’ removal on the grounds that “the government gets to choose the message that it wants to convey.”
“That’s horrifying to listen to,” Rufe responded. “Sorry, that’s not what we elected anybody for.”
Citing Berken’s argument in Monday’s opinion, Rufe said, “The government, here, likewise asserts truth is no longer self-evident, but rather the property of the elected chief magistrate and his appointees and delegees, at his whim to be scraped clean, hidden or overwritten. And why? Solely because, as Defendants state, it has the power.”
The city followed up with a preliminary injunction on Feb. 6 asking Rufe to restore the exhibition and order the preservation of the site as intended.
In Monday’s 40-page opinion, Rufe granted the preliminary injunction and charged the Trump administration with restoring the signage “to the status quo.”
“With the parties accepting the displays as historically accurate, there is a public interest in the preservation and exhibition of that history,” Rufe wrote. “Restoration of the President’s House does not infringe upon the government’s free speech, nor is the government prevented from conveying whatever message it wants to send by wiping away the history of the greatest Founding Father’s management of persons he held in bondage.”
“The government can convey a different message without restraint elsewhere if it so pleases, Rufe added, “but it cannot do so to the President’s House until it follows the law and consults with the City.”
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