Judge weighs push to require ASL interpreters at White House briefings

A federal judge grappled for over an hour on Wednesday with an effort to force the Trump administration to provide American Sign Language interpreters at White House press briefings.

A federal judge grappled for over an hour on Wednesday with an effort to force the Trump administration to provide American Sign Language interpreters at White House press briefings. The case, brought by the National Association of the Deaf, alleges that, in failing to provide sufficient ASL interpretation, the White House is violating deaf Americans’ rights under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 from accessing “critical information in real time.” US District Judge Amir Ali, one of former President Joe Biden’s final appointees, did not immediately issue a ruling, but he appeared sympathetic to the group’s arguments. Without live ASL interpretations readily available at White House briefings, NAD attorney Ian Hoffman argued, deaf Americans are “deprived of their ability to participate in the democratic process.” The Biden administration had staffed all of its press briefings with qualified ASL interpreters, but that policy was discontinued by the Trump White House earlier this year. In court on Wednesday, the Justice Department argued that the current accessibility services offered by the administration — including live closed captions and written transcripts – are sufficient in providing the deaf community with “meaningful access” to White House information.