White House Faces Mandatory ASL Interpretation in Press Conferences After Federal Court Decision

By Sam Barron | Thursday, December 11, 2025

The White House has raised concerns about permitting American Sign Language interpretation during press conferences. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys previously argued in a lawsuit that real-time sign language interpretations would “severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public.”

The National Association for the Deaf is suing the White House over its decision not to provide sign language interpretations at press briefings conducted by President Donald Trump and press secretary Karoline Leavitt. A federal judge ruled last month that the White House must restore real-time ASL interpretations to press briefings. The administration appealed the ruling but has begun providing interpretations at some events.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali stated that ending sign language interpretation unlawfully excluded deaf Americans from critical updates on economic issues, public health, and matters of war. “Given the nature of the programming at issue here — regularly scheduled briefings on topics affecting markets, medicine, militaries, and countless other areas — the court finds that denying deaf Americans access to this information presents a clear, present, and imminent harm,” Ali wrote.

The National Association for the Deaf contended that the Trump administration violated the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits government exclusion of people with disabilities from communication. The administration sought to limit the ruling to events scheduled at least 24 hours in advance, but Judge Ali ruled that White House officials must take all reasonable steps to provide interpretation whenever they have prior knowledge that Trump or Leavitt would be speaking or answering questions.

A White House spokesperson confirmed compliance with the court’s decision. Ali also clarified his ruling does not require ASL interpretation for briefings involving the vice president, first lady, second lady, or for White House videos. He dismissed administration arguments that an interpreter would constitute a “major incursion” into press conferences.

“ASL interpretation does not require a speaker to ‘share his platform’ with anyone,” Ali stated in his ruling. “The evidence shows that the defendants can readily implement remote ASL interpretation without an interpreter present in the same room as the speaker.”