The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ordered the National Park Service (NPS) to stop repairs to a contested educational exhibit about slavery in Philadelphia yesterday.

NPS was ordered to maintain the status quo and preserve the displays that have not yet been returned, pending the outcome of an expected appeal by the Trump administration, according to the order from Judge Thomas Hardiman.

The controversy started on January 22, when NPS workers removed the educational panels from the President’s House site. The exhibit honored the slaves whom Washington brought to the house and taught visitors about slavery in Colonial America.  NPS removed the panels in response to Executive Order 14253, which claims to counter “ideological indoctrination” in accounts of America’s history.  The city sued, alleging that NPS violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and a 2006 cooperative agreement that gave the city equal rights to decide the content of the President’s House project.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who backed the lawsuit, said of the case, “Here in Pennsylvania, we learn from our history – even when it’s painful.  We don’t erase it. Donald Trump may want to whitewash our shared history – but we will not let him win.”

On February 17, Judge Cynthia Rufe, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, decided that NPS violated the APA by removing the slavery exhibit. She ordered the agency to fully restore the exhibit by February 20. NPS workers had begun to replace the panels, and repairs were about half completed.

Millions of people are expected to visit Philadelphia this year, to celebrate America’s 250^th anniversary.  The President’s House is where George Washington and John Adams lived, when the city was the nation’s capital.