White House Must Provide ASL Interpreter for Briefings

A federal judge has spurned President Donald Trump’s move to get rid of American Sign Language interpreters for White House briefings.

Judge Amir H. Ali of the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted in part a preliminary injunction motion from the National Association for the Deaf. A publicly accessible ASL interpreter must be provided White House media briefings held by the president or Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, but rejected similar relief for events conducted by Vice President JD Vance or First Lady Melania Trump.

“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. “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 case is Nat’l Assoc. of the Deaf v. Trump, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-01683, 11/4/25.