- Trump
admin opposes real-time ASL at briefings. - Aims
to control President’s public image tightly. - Amid
ongoing federal lawsuit challenge.
Attorneys for the Department of Justice have not explained
how doing so could undermine the public image that President Donald Trump wants
to project. However, since his first week back in the White House, reversing
policies pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusion have become a defining
feature of his second administration.
In May, the National Association for the Deaf filed a
lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that “denying hundreds
of thousands of deaf Americans meaningful access to the White House’s real-time
communications on various issues of national and international import” was
the result of the Biden administration’s regular use of American Sign Language
interpretation. During Trump’s first term, the group also filed a lawsuit,
requesting ASL interpretation for COVID-19 briefings.
Attorneys for the Justice Department contended that
requiring sign language interpretation for news conferences “would
severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents
to the public” and that the president has “the prerogative to shape
his Administration’s image and messaging as he sees fit” in a June court
filing opposing the association’s request for a preliminary injunction, which
Politico reported on Thursday.
Additionally, government lawyers contended that it gives the
Deaf and hard of hearing communities additional access to the president’s
remarks through closed captioning or online transcripts of events.
Additionally, the administration has maintained that it would be challenging to
provide such services in the event that Trump answered questions from the media
on his own initiative.
A White House official did not immediately respond to
inquiries about the administration’s claim that interpretation services harm
Trump’s “image” or comment on the pending litigation on Friday.
Government lawyers questioned if other arms of government
were held to the same standards if they failed to offer the same interpretive
services that the organization requested in its June submission.
Washington probably has a large pool of qualified ASL
interpreters that the White House could use because it is home to Gallaudet
University, the world’s best college for the deaf and hard of hearing. With two
alternating interpreters, Mayor Muriel Bowser has made ASL interpreting a
staple of her appearances.
That and other government concerns were dismissed by a
federal judge last month, who issued an order mandating that the White House
offer real-time American Sign Language interpretation for Trump and Leavitt’s
speech. Although the administration has started offering American Sign Language
interpretation at select occasions, there is controversy over what services it
must provide. The White House has appealed the decision.
Trump signed a broad executive order ending diversity,
equity, and inclusion initiatives throughout the U.S. government during his
first week back in office. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made his mark on the
Pentagon in January when he issued an order declaring that DEI procedures were
“incompatible” with the objective of the department.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomatic
correspondence to revert to the more conventional Times New Roman font this
week, claiming that the Biden administration’s 2023 switch to the sans serif
Calibri font resulted from his predecessor’s misguided diversity, equity, and
inclusion initiatives.
What legal arguments did the judge reject in this case?
In the National Association of the Deaf v. Trump action, the
civil judge rejected the Trump administration’s core arguments that real- time
ASL practitioners at White House briefings were gratuitous or overly burdensome
under the Rehabilitation Act.
The court dismissed assertions that closed captions alone
serve for deaf access, chancing them shy for effective communication during
live events; it also overruled claims of inordinate executive costs or product
dislocations, ruling that Title II authorizations” meaningful access”
without similar immunity.
Judge ruled the White House qualifies as a public reality,
dragooning original services to hearing attendees; previous Biden- period ASL
perpetration proved doable, negating” novelty” defenses, leading to
the November 2025 order now under appeal.
