Two western congressional Democrats are joining the legal fight to block placement of President Donald Trump's photo on the front of national parks passes that are issued to visitors from other countries.
Reps. Jared Huffman of California and Pramila Jayapal of Washington filed a friend of the court brief to support the suit by the Center for Biological Diversity that challenges the Interior Department's plan to feature Trump on the America the Beautiful national park passes.
“Trump is acting like an authoritarian, putting his face on buildings across Washington, DC, on our money, and even on American the Beautiful passes — replacing Glacier National Park,” said Jayapal. “This is flagrant self-promotion and an unacceptable politicization of our National Parks.”
The controversial image of Trump, placed next to one of President George Washington, goes against the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004, which established the America the Beautiful Pass and stipulated that the passes feature the winners of an annual photo competition run by the National Park Foundation.
For the 2026 pass, that photo was taken in Glacier National Park in Montana. The photo was used on the “nonresident” park pass, sold to people who do not live in the United States, but not on the “resident” pass.
“[F]or the first time ever, the agency charged with protecting and managing our national parks has forced the public to focus on political imagery rather than natural beauty during national park visits, in the process flouting specific provisions of federal law,” states the amicus brief by the two Congress members. “Such efforts to replace participatory traditions with imagery centered on a particular political figure undermine the foundational principle that the nation’s parks are nonpartisan spaces intended for the enjoyment of all.”
In addition to the choice of image for the park pass, the Center also argues that the administration violated the law by "creating new 'resident' and 'nonresident' passes expressly prohibited by the law."
“The America the Beautiful pass gets a family to their first geyser, a Gold Star family to the trail their son loved most, a road tripper to a quiet morning at the rim of the canyon. These are American places, cared for and paid for by the American people,” said Huffman. “Turning that pass into a glamour shot of Trump tells every one of those Americans their parks now come stamped with his ego. They don't.”
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