Are there rules about political figures appearing on federal park passes or memorabilia?
Executive summary
Federal law and National Park Service (NPS) regulations constrain what can be printed, distributed, and displayed on federal park property, but there is no single, blunt statutory prohibition in the provided record that says “no political figures on park passes”; instead the rules operate through a web of Title 36 regulations, administrative policies, and statute-specific mandates that can be invoked to challenge or permit particular uses of imagery and memorabilia [1] [2] [3]. Recent litigation over a presidential portrait on the America the Beautiful pass illustrates how existing statutes—most notably the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act as alleged by plaintiffs—and NPS regulatory discretion become the battleground for disputes over political images [4].
1. The regulatory frame: Title 36 and message-bearing items
The NPS implements detailed public-facing rules in title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations; those regulations carry legal force and violations can trigger penalties, so they are the first place to look when assessing whether an image or message is permissible on park property or official items [1] [2]. One specific regulation revised in 2018 governs the free distribution of “other message-bearing items,” limiting distribution to designated locations and allowing designation only if distribution would not harm park resources, disturb the character of historic or commemorative zones, or be incompatible with traditional uses—language that implicitly can constrain overt political messaging in parks [5].
2. Policy and internal mandates that shape decisions
Beyond the CFR, NPS management policies and legal-and-policy mandates require superintendents and agency officials to comply with federal laws, Executive Orders, and agency policy when planning park materials, exhibits, and commercial items, which means image decisions are filtered through cultural-resource protection and other management priorities rather than a single “no-politics” banner [6] [7]. The agency’s guidance emphasizes preserving the historic, natural, and commemorative atmosphere of park units—criteria that can be used to argue against politicized imagery in some contexts while permitting it in others depending on compatibility findings [5] [6].
3. Statute-driven disputes: the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act and lawsuits
When controversies arise over imagery on official passes, plaintiffs often point to particular statutes; for example, a 2025 lawsuit argued that substituting a presidential headshot for an official contest-winning park photo violated the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act and related rules—showing that statutory language about how pass imagery is chosen can be the decisive legal issue, even if no express federal prohibition on political figures exists in broader park regulations [4]. The suit highlights that statutory processes for selecting or contesting images and the provenance of photos (i.e., taken on federal land, entered into contests, etc.) are enforceable levers in court [4].
4. Monuments, memorials and special-event rules: related legal protections
Separate bodies of law protect monuments and memorials and govern special events and demonstrations on federal land; statutes and executive orders addressing monuments or criminal penalties for damage can intersect with debates about imagery when a figure’s depiction relates to a memorialized person or site, and NPS special-event regulations in places like the National Mall add procedural permit layers for politically charged activities near memorial landscapes [8] [9]. These overlapping legal regimes mean a single image can trigger multiple legal and administrative inquiries—historic-preservation rules, demonstration permitting, and inventory of federally owned statuary all potentially relevant [10] [9].
5. Bottom line and limits of the record
The available public documents show that federal regulations and policies constrain message-bearing items, require compatibility determinations, and give the NPS discretion—and that statutes governing pass programs can be enforced in court—but they do not, in the cited material, contain an unambiguous, universal ban on “political figures” appearing on park passes or memorabilia; instead the permissibility depends on statutory requirements for the specific program, the NPS’s administrative findings about compatibility with park purposes, and, where contested, judicial interpretation of relevant laws as seen in litigation [5] [1] [4]. The sources provided do not include a definitive rule explicitly forbidding political figures on passes, so further research into the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act text, agency implementing guidance, and any more recent NPS directives would be needed to definitively map all prohibitions and allowances beyond the materials cited here [4] [3].