NEWS FROM U.S. DISTRICT COURT
June 8, 2018

INTERPRETERS FOR COURT PROCEEDINGS: Under D.S.D. Crim. LR 28.1, when
interpreters are required for proceedings instituted by the United States, the Clerk’s Office will locate
certified or otherwise qualified language interpreters for court proceedings. For most other purposes,
a party requiring the services of a language interpreter must obtain his or her own interpreting
services. If participants in federal court proceedings are deaf, hearing impaired, or have
communication disabilities, the court will provide sign language interpreters or other auxiliary aids
and services. Please contact the Clerk’s Office if you have specific inquiries.

INTERPRETING vs. TRANSLATING: Interpreting is the oral translation for parties conversing
in different languages. Interpreters can be certified, professionally qualified, or language skilled.
During a court proceeding, a competent court interpreter can render a complete and accurate
interpretation of everything said, without adding or omitting words or summarizing statements, or
provide sight translation (reading a document in one language and orally translating it to another
language). Being bilingual is not sufficient to qualify a person to interpret in court. The District of
South Dakota maintains a local roster on its webpage for your use. If further assistance is needed in
obtaining an interpreter, please contact the Clerk’s Office.
Translating is changing a written document from one language to another language. Most translators
work in only one direction, for example from Spanish to English. It would be extremely rare that a
document would be translated from English into a foreign language, because the language of the
courts is English. It should be noted that federally certified court interpreters are tested for ability to
perform sight translation, not document translation, and may not always be experienced translators.
Translators accredited by the American Translators Association are listed at:
http://www.atanet.org/onlinedirectories.

TIP OF THE MONTH: Resetting CJA eVoucher passwords. Did you know that eVoucher
passwords expire every 180 days? If your password has expired, or if you’ve forgotten your
password, you may reset it by clicking on the ‘Forgot your login?’ link on the eVoucher login page
and following the instructions. After two failed attempts, your account will be locked. Only court
staff can unlock an account, so you’ll want to reset your password before the third failed attempt.
Remember that your new password must be different than your previous password, and must contain
each of the following:
 at least 8 characters,
 at least one upper case character,
 at least one lower case character,
 at least one numerical character, and
 at least one special character (!, @, #, $, *, %, ^, &, -, +)
Several modification requests have been submitted for future eVoucher upgrades to make this more
user friendly. These include having eVoucher notify you when your account is locked and providing
you with instructions to unlock your account. They also include sending you an email warning of the
approaching password expiration date or a method to reset your password upon your next log in.