The Trump administration is arguing that requiring real-time American Sign Language interpretation of events such as White House press briefings “will seriously interfere with the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public,” part of a lawsuit seeking to require the White House to provide the services.
Attorneys for the Department of Justice did not elaborate on how this could hamper the view that President Donald Trump seeks to present to the public. But flipping policies that include diversity, equity and inclusion have become a hallmark of his second administration, starting with his first week back in the White House.
The National Association of the Deaf sued the Trump administration in May, arguing that the suspension of American Sign Language interpretation — which the Biden administration had regularly used — represented “a denial of hundreds of thousands of deaf Americans to the White House’s real-time communications on various matters of national and international import.” The group also searched during the first Trump administration, seeking ASL interpretation for updates related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a June court filing opposing the association’s request for a preliminary injunction, reported Thursday by Politico, Justice Department lawyers argued that the obligation to provide sign language interpretation for news conferences “severely intrudes on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public,” and also wrote that the president has “the prerogative to shape the image and his message.”
Government lawyers also argued that it would provide the Deaf community with other ways to access the president’s statements, such as online transcripts of events, or closed captioning. The administration also claimed that it would be difficult to deal with these services in the event that Trump spontaneously took questions from the press, rather than during a formal briefing.
A White House spokesman did not immediately comment Friday on the ongoing lawsuit or respond to questions about the administration’s argument about the interpretation services’ damage to Trump’s “image.”
Last month, a federal judge rejected that and other objections from the government, issuing an order requiring the White House to provide American Sign Language interpretation for Trump and Leavitt’s remarks in real time. The White House appealed the ruling, and while the administration has begun providing American Sign Language interpretation at some events, there is disagreement over which services to provide.
In his first week back in office, Trump signed a major executive order halting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the US government. Putting his stamp on the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January issued an order declaring that DEI’s policies were “incompatible” with the department’s mission,
This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomatic correspondence to return to the more traditional Times New Roman font, arguing that the Biden administration’s 2023 switch to the sans serif Calibri font had stemmed from misguided diversity, equity and inclusion policies pursued by his predecessor.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP