White House Raises Concerns About Trump’s ‘image’ In Lawsuit Over Sign Language Interpreters

The White House is making an unusual argument as it resists advocates’ push for sign language interpretation at press briefings conducted by President Donald Trump and press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Providing American sign language interpretation in press conferences “would severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public,” Justice Department attorneys argued in a lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Deaf.

The novel argument is just one part of the White House’s case against providing ASL interpretation, and DOJ attorneys haven’t elaborated much on the alleged intrusion. But it has raised concerns among advocates, and even the judge in the case.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali issued an order last month requiring the White House to provide real-time ASL interpretation for Trump and Leavitt’s briefings, rejecting the administration's argument that closed captioning and transcripts give Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing sufficient access to the president’s statements.

“To the extent the defendants argue that they prefer to act free from association with accessibility for people with disabilities, their gripe is with Congress and” federal anti-discrimination laws themselves, Ali wrote.

The Trump administration immediately appealed Ali’s ruling. The White House has begun providing interpretation for more events since the court issued its injunction, although the two sides of the case have disagreed over the specifics of what’s required.

The administration has argued that complications could arise if, for example, Trump spontaneously chooses to take questions from the press at events other than briefings. The Trump administration has asked Ali to limit his ruling to events scheduled at least 24 hours in advance, but the judge said the White House’s concerns were based on a misunderstanding of his order, which requires officials to “take all reasonable steps” to provide interpretation whenever they have advance knowledge that Trump or Leavitt will provide information or take questions.

The plaintiffs have also noted that President Joe Biden’s administration was able to provide ASL interpretation for events that were announced to the press pool less than an hour before Biden delivered his remarks.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told POLITICO that “the Administration is in compliance with” the judge’s November order. The White House did not respond to additional questions seeking to clarify its position in the case.

Brittany Shrader, director of legal services at the National Association of the Deaf Law and Advocacy Center, told POLITICO that she would rather not speculate about the administration’s “image” arguments.

“The disability laws don't require a showing of animus or ill will toward people with disabilities to prove discrimination. The laws require that the White House provide access and the failure to provide that access is itself discrimination,” Shrader said. The White House's arguments are “not a sound basis for declining to provide reasonable accommodations," she said.

The organization first sued over a lack of sign language interpretation during Trump’s first term, in a bid to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing Americans had access to critical health information from government leaders during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trump White House fought that lawsuit, but did not make arguments related to the president’s control of his image and messaging.

The Biden White House provided ASL interpreters for its press briefings, but the practice disappeared when Trump came back into power. The National Association of the Deaf filed a new discrimination lawsuit against the administration in May, naming Trump, Leavitt and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles among the defendants.

The NAD and White House are awaiting action from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which could uphold or block Ali’s order.