Biden-Appointed D.C. Judge Orders White House To Provide Sign Language Interpreters For Press Briefings

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge ruled on Nov. 5 that the White House must provide American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation during press briefings held by President Donald Trump and press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

The decision followed a lawsuit filed in May by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and Derrick Ford, a deaf individual, which alleged that the Trump administration “inexplicably stopped” using ASL interpreters since taking office, denying deaf Americans access to real-time White House communications.

In a 26-page order, President-Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington said the plaintiffs are likely to prevail on their claim that the administration’s actions violated the Rehabilitation Act, a federal law that aims to ensure people with disabilities have access to federal activities.

“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 said in the 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 said that English captions and transcripts alone are not enough to make briefings accessible to people who use ASL, as many deaf individuals do not communicate in English, according to the ruling.

The White House had argued that requiring the president to share his platform with ASL interpreters at all press briefings would cause a “major incursion on his central prerogatives.”

The judge rejected this argument, noting that ASL interpretation could be implemented without requiring interpreters to be in the same room as the speaker. Ali added that the White House did not clarify what “major incursion” it was referring to.

The plaintiffs also asked the court to mandate ASL interpretation for press briefings and events held by First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Second Lady Usha Vance, as well as for all videos posted on the White House’s websites and social media channels. Ali said they had not presented sufficient evidence to justify that request.

Ali ordered the Trump administration to file a status report by Nov. 7 that “apprises the court of their compliance with this order.”

Neither the NAD nor the White House responded to a request for comment by publication time.

The lawsuit marks the NAD’s second suit against the White House over access to ASL interpretation. In 2020, the NAD sued to require ASL interpretation for COVID-19-related press briefings.

That case was resolved when the White House implemented a policy to provide interpreters for all press briefings conducted by the president, vice president, first lady, second gentleman, and press secretary, according to the group.

The White House stopped providing ASL interpretation in January this year and has not included interpreters at any press briefings since, the NAD said in a May 28 statement.