A federal appeals court sharply questioned lawyers for the city of Philadelphia on Tuesday over their lawsuit seeking to restore a slavery exhibit to the President’s House site in the city, which is operated by the federal government.A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit heard arguments in a Trump administration appeal of a district court ruling that the Department of the Interior was not permitted to remove panels at the historic site that included references to slavery. Justice Department lawyer Gregory in den Berken, arguing on behalf of the Trump administration, claimed the decision was simply curating the exhibits at the National Park Service property, and that the federal government may choose how to emphasize different aspects of history.“The conduct … the city challenges is necessarily committed to agency discretion by law,” in den Berken told the panel. “These types of curatorial decisions by the Park Service are inherently not subject to judicial review.”
Anne Taylor, the lawyer arguing for the city of Philadelphia at Tuesday’s hearing, faced intense questioning from the panel of judges over why the city has an interest, or an ability, to dictate the exhibits at a historic site not operated by them. One of the judges asked Taylor directly if it is the “city’s position that the government can’t curate its property,” to which she responded that was correct.
