In a significant legal decision, the appeals court has authorized the reinstallation of educational panels by President Donald Trump’s administration at the historic site of George Washington’s residence in Philadelphia. This site holds immense historical value as it is also where the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.
Though there is no immediate confirmation from the National Park Service on the timeline, the new panels are set to replace the ones originally installed in 2010. These earlier panels depicted the lives of nine enslaved individuals who lived with George and Martha Washington during the 1790s, a period when Philadelphia served as the temporary capital of the United States.
The removal of the 2010 panels was prompted by Trump’s 2025 executive order. This directive mandated that information at federally controlled historic sites should avoid “disparaging Americans past or living” and should instead highlight “the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”
The three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, located just across from the President’s House site, made a procedural ruling to execute a prior decision from last month. This earlier decision, from judges appointed by Trump, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, overturned a lower court’s order that had halted the federal government’s installation of the new panels.
On Thursday, the administration sought immediate permission to reinstall the panels, asserting that they are ready for installation and should proceed “without further delay.” Court documents indicate that the new panels will also cover aspects of slavery.
The City of Philadelphia, having sued over the initial removal of the 2010 information, has moved to delay the installation of the new panels. On Friday, the city appealed to the court to withdraw its earlier order to provide time for a formal response to the administration’s Thursday request.
The city’s legal filing emphasized the significance of the site: “The President’s House is a site of exceptional importance to Philadelphia and the Nation, developed through years of federal-local collaboration to tell a historically significant and long-suppressed story.”
Currently, about half of the original 2010 panels have been reinstalled following a court order to pause further work earlier this year.
