Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-401_2cp3.pdf
Page Number: 13

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

9 

Opinion of the Court 

or more nations or nationalities”); see also Random House
Dictionary,  at  743  (“between  or  among  nations;  involving 
two or more nations”; “of or pertaining to two or more na-
tions or their citizens”).  The latter definition is unlikely in 
this context because an adjudicative body would be “inter-
national” if it had adjudicators of different nationalities—
and it would be strange for the availability of discovery to 
turn on the national origin of the adjudicators.  So no party
argues  that  “international”  carries  that  meaning  here.  A 
tribunal is “international” when it involves or is of two or 
more nations, meaning that those nations have imbued the 
tribunal with official power to adjudicate disputes.  See Tr. 
of Oral Arg. 77 (the United States arguing that “the touch-
stone” is whether the body is “exercising official power on 
behalf of the two governments”). 

So understood, “foreign tribunal” and “international tri-
bunal”  complement  one  another;  the  former  is  a  tribunal 
imbued with governmental authority by one nation, and the
latter is a tribunal imbued with governmental authority by
multiple nations. 

B 
Section  1782’s  focus  on  governmental  and  intergovern-
mental tribunals is confirmed by both the statute’s history 
and a comparison to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 
U. S. C. §1 et seq. 

From the start, the statute has been about respecting for-
eign nations and the governmental and intergovernmental
bodies  they  create.  From  1855  until  1964,  §1782  and  its
antecedents covered assistance only to foreign “courts.”  See 
Act of Mar. 2, 1855, ch. 140, §2, 10 Stat. 630; Act of Mar. 3,
1863, ch. 95, §1, 12 Stat. 769; Act of Feb. 27, 1877, ch. 69, 
§875, 19 Stat. 241; Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 646, §1782, 62
Stat. 949; 28 U. S. C. §1782 (1958 ed.).  And before 1964, a 
separate strand of law covered assistance to “ ‘any interna-
tional  tribunal  or  commission  . . .  in  which  the  United