The Federal Judicial Center Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation that Congress established to receive gifts to support the work of the Center. The Foundation has sole authority to decide whether to accept gifts, 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 activities 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. No Foundation Board member may be a active judge. Foundation Board members at the close of 2009 were as follows:
Fern M. Smith, San Francisco, C.A., chair;
Richard D. Casey, Sioux Falls, S.D.;
Laurie L. Michel, Washington, D.C.;
Sally M. Rider, Tucson, A.Z.;
Robert K. Walsh, Winston-Salem, N.C.;
John B. White, Jr., Spartanburg, S.C.; and
Benjamin L. Zelenko, Washington, D.C.
In creating the Foundation, Congress directed that this annual report describe the purposes for which Foundation gifts were used in the relevant year. The Center used the following Foundation gifts in 2009:
- Funds provided by the Foundation for the Advancement of an Independent Judiciary to cover the partial cost of conducting an institute for high school teachers on teaching judicial history.
- Funds provided by the Lewis & Clark Law School to cover the partial cost of conducting an environmental law seminar.
- Funds provided by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to cover travel expenses for federal judges to attend one seminar on emerging issues in neuroscience.
- Funds provided by the Gruter Institute to cover travel expenses for federal judges to attend one seminar on emerging issues in law and neuroscience.
- Non-earmarked grants provided travel expenses for one U.S. judge to speak at a Washington, D.C. conference on Russian judicial reform.
- Non-earmarked grants provided partial support of a judicial seminar on the humanities and science at Princeton University (the “Harold Medina Seminar”).