The Federal Judicial Center Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation established by Congress to receive gifts to support the work of the Center. By statute, the foundation has sole authority to decide whether to accept gifts to support the work of the Center and thereby to determine the suitability of would-be donors. The foundation may not accept gifts earmarked for projects that have not previously been approved by the Center’s Board, and the Center has sole control over the design and conduct of research or education programs supported by donations.
The foundation is governed by a seven-person board appointed by the Chief Justice, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The members of the foundation’s board during 2001 were as follows:
Dianne M. Nast, Esq., Lancaster, Pa., chair
Richard D. Casey, Esq., Sioux Falls, S.D.
Laurie L. Michel, Esq., Washington, D.C.
Charles B. Renfrew, Esq., San Francisco, Cal.
Marna S. Tucker, Esq., Washington, D.C.
John B. White, Jr., Esq., Spartanburg, S.C.
Benjamin L. Zelenko, Esq., Washington, D.C.
Grants to the foundation have enabled the Center to plan and present educational programs in specialized areas. Foundation gifts were used for the following purposes in 2001:
- A grant from the New York University School of Law’s Institute for Judicial Administration supported judges’ attendance at a seminar on federalism that the Center presented in cooperation with the NYU School of Law.
- Funds left over from a class action suit supported the meeting of an advisory group on mass torts and production of the monograph described on page 11 on case management in mass tort bankruptcy cases.
- Undesignated funds were used to support several judicial seminars on special topics, such as basic issues of science, intellectual property, employment, mediation, and bankruptcy law; a program for senior court managers; a program for chief district judges and clerks; and in-court judicial education programs.
- A grant from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants supported seminars to help judges analyze financial statements presented as evidence.
Foundation funds were also used in 2001 to support the publication and distribution of a book, Liberty E Liberdade: Citizens and Justice in Brazil and the United States, edited by Professor Mortimer Sellers. The foundation received these funds under an agreement through which the foundation receives gifts designated for the use of the Judicial Conference and the Center to assist foreign judges and other legal officials in improving the administration of justice in their countries.