Federal Judicial Center

The Federal Judicial Center is an administrative agency of the United States Courts. The Center was created by the act of the United States Congress on 20 December 1967 and assigned the responsibility of studying and improving the judicial administration in the federal courts. The Center is described as the "education and research agency for the federal courts."

The Federal Judicial Center's organization reflects its statutory mandates. The organization includes the Education Division, the Research Division, the Federal Judicial History Office, and the International Judicial Relations Office. In addition, the Center operates the Federal Judicial Television Network, a satellite broadcast network transmitting to federal court locations.

The Chief Justice of the United States is ex officio chair of the Center's board. Other members include the director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and seven judges elected to four-year terms by the Judicial Conference of the United States. The board appoints the Center's director and deputy director. The Center has had nine directors. The first director was Judge Alfred P. Murrah, appointed in 1967. Judge Barbara J. Rothstein became director in 2003. She was appointed U.S. district judge for the Western District of Washington in 1980 but has been resident in Washington, D.C., since becoming director.

The Federal Judicial Center Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress to receive gifts to support the work of the Center. The Foundation is governed by a seven-member board appointed by the Chief Justice, the Prsident Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Unlike the board of the Center itself, no member of the Foundation's board may be a judge.