Taniguchi v. Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd. (U.S. Supreme Court)

The Court Interpreters Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1920(6), allows courts to award a prevailing party the costs of oral interpreters. The question in this case was whether “compensation of interpreters” within the meaning of that statute includes compensation of those who translate not only spoken words, but also written ones. The Court held that it does not, reasoning that that there are narrow bounds to taxable costs, “which are limited by statute and modest in scope.” On behalf of respondent Kan Pacific Saipan, we argued for the more expansive reading of Section 1920(6).