A federal judge ordered the White House Tuesday to immediately provide American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation at all press briefings conducted by President Trump or press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
US District Judge Amir Ali, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, ruled that the deaf plaintiff and nonprofit group suing the Trump administration over the lack of an ASL interpreter at press briefings were likely to succeed in arguing the White House was illegally excluding deaf Americans.
“White House press briefings engage the American people on important issues affecting their daily lives — in recent months, war, the economy, and healthcare, and, in recent years, a global pandemic,” Ali wrote in his 26-page order. “The exclusion of deaf Americans from that programming, in addition to likely violating the Rehabilitation Act, is clear and present harm that the court cannot meaningfully remedy after the fact.”
The judge determined that “providing ASL interpretation is readily feasible” and that the congressional act requiring it for certain government functions is enforceable.
Ali ordered the Trump administration to provide “simultaneous and publicly accessible ASL interpretation by a qualified interpreter for all publicly announced White House press briefings conducted by the President or White House Press Secretary,” finding that to be “the least relief that is both necessary and supported by the record.”
The plaintiffs – the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and Derrick Ford, a deaf individual – had asked for greater relief, including ASL interpretation for events conducted by Vice President JD Vance, first lady Melania Trump and second lady Usha Vance.
They also requested ASL interpretation be provided to TV networks airing White House events, for the interpreter to occupy a certain width of the screen and for ASL interpretation on all videos on the White House’s website and social media pages.
The Trump administration argued that providing closed captioning was enough of an accommodation, but the judge noted that Ford and deaf NAD members “use ASL as their primary language and have limited proficiency in English.”
Ali asked the Trump administration to file a status report by Nov. 7 that “apprises the court of their compliance with this order.”
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
