Rufe, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, also criticized the government for even raising such an argument, saying that the Justice Department and its attorneys should know better than to ignore history.
A federal judge has asked the U.S. Department of Justice not to disturb a slavery-related exhibition at President’s House in Philadelphia before she had the chance to visit the site and assess the situation for herself.
According to WHYY, the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.
Earlier this week, the Justice Department argued that the National Park Service has the full authority to decide what exhibits should—and should not—be placed at park sites under its jurisdiction. Gregory in den Berken, a lawyer for the Department of Justice, said that the Trump administration should be able to set its own priorities.
“Ultimately, the government gets to choose the message it wants to convey,” he said.
However, the government’s stance was met with skepticism by the court, with U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe positing in den Berken’s argument as “dangerous.”
“It is horrifying to listen to,” Rufe said. “It changes on the whims of someone in charge? I’m sorry, that is not what we elected anybody for.”
Rufe, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, also criticized the government for even raising such an argument, saying that the Justice Department and its attorneys should know better than to ignore history.
“You can’t erase history once you’ve learned it,” she said. “It doesn’t work that way.”
The City of Philadelphia, a named plaintiff to the lawsuit, alleges that the federal government’s decision to remove the exhibit violates the terms of a 2006 cooperative agreement between the city and the National Park Service. In opening testimony, Philadelphia City Solicitor Renee Garcia said that the Park Service caused “irreparable harm” when it changed “the first federal property to feature a slave memorial.”
The lawsuit claims, among other things, that the agreement prohibits both parties—the city, and the federal government—from taking “arbitrary” actions on certain projects and sites.
For the “Park service to now destroy a commemorative site that took 10 years, millions of dollars, and substantial collaboration without so much as a conversation is the very definition of an arbitrary and capricious action,” Garcia said.
In response, the Justice Department argued that a federal court should not have authority over what is “fundamentally a contract claim.” Furthermore, the government said, the National Park Service itself remains in charge of “the safekeeping and interpretation” of American history.
Rufe, again, signaled skepticism, noting that the federal government is far from the only stakeholder at sites like President’s House.
“It was in an awful lot of people’s interests, time and money coming from the city, other organizations, fundraising, taxpayers, that went into all of this creation of part of the exhibit of the President’s House,” Rufe said before repeating the city’s claims that the Trump administration attempted to dismantle the site with “no notice, no cooperation, no intent to involve the city.”
Sources
Philadelphia sues after slavery exhibits were taken down from President’s House site
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