A federal judge on Tuesday spanked the White House for its decision to cancel sign language interpretation of presidential events, saying the law appears to require it.
Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee to the court in Washington, ordered the White House to restart sign language interpretation for all scheduled presidential press conferences or briefings conducted by the press secretary.
He told the White House to let him know by Friday that it was in compliance.
“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,” the judge wrote. “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.”
He rejected the White House’s suggestions that a written transcript or closed captioning provided sufficient access.
For one thing, he said, some of the deaf people that sued to restore sign language aren’t fluent English speakers.
And he suggested the White House seemed more worried about to have an “image” that doesn’t associate the speakers with the disabled.
Judge Ali said that was an argument with Congress, which passed the Rehabilitation Act. And he said the White House acknowledged the act applied to its activities.
The lawsuit, led by the National Association of the Deaf, and Derrick Ford, a deaf person, had asked for broader coverage of sign language, including events conducted by the vice president and the two men’s wives.
Judge Ali rejected that at this point, saying the big events for which the deaf community had argued for access were the president and press secretary briefings.
