28 U.S.C. § 1920
Section 1920 · Taxation of costs
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 2,430 court decisions — leading case Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society (1975)
Most recently applied in Jacqueline Sterling v. Southlake Nautilus Health & Racquett Club, Incorpo (June 2025)
Applied most in the Tenth Circuit Circuit (149 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 42 U.S.C. § 1988 · 28 U.S.C. § 1821 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment and consequential amendments — watch for a citation surge after a change. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
A judge or clerk of any court of the United States may tax as costs the following:
(1) Fees of the clerk and marshal;
(2) Fees for printed or electronically recorded transcripts necessarily obtained for use in the case;
(3) Fees and disbursements for printing and witnesses;
(4) Fees for exemplification and the costs of making copies of any materials where the copies are necessarily obtained for use in the case;
(5) Docket fees under section 1923 of this title;
(6) Compensation of court appointed experts, compensation of interpreters, and salaries, fees, expenses, and costs of special interpretation services under section 1828 of this title.
A bill of costs shall be filed in the case and, upon allowance, included in the judgment or decree.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§9a(a) and 830 (R.S. §983; Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §5a, as added Jan. 20, 1944, ch. 3, §1, 58 Stat. 5).
For distribution of other provisions of section 9a of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., see table at end of reviser's notes.
Word “may” was substituted for “shall” before “tax as costs,” in view of Rule 54(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, providing for allowance of costs to the prevailing party as of course “unless the court otherwise directs”.
Changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
2008—Par. (2). Pub. L. 110–406, §6(1), substituted “for printed or electronically recorded transcripts” for “of the court reporter for all or any part of the stenographic transcript”.
Par. (4). Pub. L. 110–406, §6(2), substituted “the costs of making copies of any materials where the copies are” for “copies of papers”.
1978—Par. (6). Pub. L. 95–539 added par. (6).
Effective Date of 1978 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 95–539 effective Oct. 28, 1978, see section 10(a) of Pub. L. 95–539, set out as a note under section 602 of this title.