Today in Supreme Court History: September 27

Taniguchi v. Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd., 564 U.S. 1066 (decided September 27, 2011): cert granted due to Circuit Court split of authority; the Court subsequently held that “compensation to interpreters” recoupable by prevailing party as part of “costs” (28 U.S.C. §1920) did not include expense of translating documents, 566 U.S. 560, 2012 (Mariana Islands resort had won summary judgment against Japanese baseball player who fell through wooden deck; resort wanted to tax the expense of translating Japanese medical records into English, which totaled -- $5517.20?? they went all the way up to the Supreme Court for this? were the attorneys working for minimum wage?) (the reports all say Taniguchi was a baseball player but the accident happened in 2006, and he last played in 2001) (the oral argument, which was recorded, was memorably acted out in Puppy Justice, still on youtube)

Kennedy v. Berger, 145 S.Ct. 115(Mem.) (decided September 27, 2024): rejecting request by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s independent Presidential campaign to set aside state court judgment that his petition to get onto New York ballot was based on false New York address (Kennedy had suspended his campaign one month earlier) (on appeal he had argued that requiring in-state address on petition added extra-Constitutional qualification for President)