UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT

717 MADISON PLACE, N.W.

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20439

November 20, 2023

Federal Circuit Announces New Learning Center for Local Public Schools

Washington, D.C., November 20, 2023: At this past Friday’s Federal Circuit Bar 

Association’s 2023 Annual Dinner & Reception, Federal Circuit Chief Judge Kimberly 

A. Moore announced plans for the creation of a learning center, designed to serve and 

educate local public school students at the court. With a planned opening in 

September 2024, the Federal Circuit will unveil a new, state-of-the-art learning 

center in the heart of Washington, D.C. with a primary focus on providing a unique 

learning opportunity to students in the local community. Students will be able to 

tour the combined 2,400 square-feet of historic spaces and engage in interactive 

educational programming focused on the intersection between law and technology, 

which is one of the Federal Circuit’s many specialties. 

“The Federal Circuit was created to encourage American innovation by providing a 

uniform legal structure to support intellectual property,” explained Chief Judge 

Moore. “Our new learning center seeks to bring District of Columbia public school 

students into our courthouse so they can see firsthand how our court handles the 

intersection of law, science, and technology.” 

This is the first-in-the-nation learning center to combine civic education, the 

judiciary, and STEM. It will invite students to learn about the federal judiciary and

the rule of law, the Federal Circuit’s unique role in resolving technology related 

disputes that significantly impact our nation’s economy, and how the Federal 

Circuit’s historic properties featured in important events in our nation’s history. 

Through the court’s recent renovation of its historic spaces, the Federal Circuit is now 

nearing completion of a multi-year project to transform areas of the National Courts 

Building complex into a walking museum and civic learning center to “revive the 

historic role of courthouses as vital and vibrant centers of a civically engaged 

community,” as Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. encouraged all federal courts to do 

in his 2019 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary. Chief Judge Moore 

emphasized that “through our tour program, we will invite students to explore the 
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rich history that happened in our buildings that helped shape civic life in both the 

District of Columbia and the nation over the past two centuries.”

Dedicated in 1967 following First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s efforts to preserve the 

historic nature of Lafayette Square, the then-new National Courts Building at 717 

Madison Place, built just one block away from the White House, incorporated three 

historic properties into its design: the Cutts-Madison House, the former Cosmos Club 

building, and the Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House. As Circuit Librarian Jessica 

Perovich explained at the FCBA dinner, “Our library staff have spent the past year 

uncovering and documenting the rich history of our workplace,” adding that “the 

opportunity to share it with students will be very rewarding.” 

Historic Events at the National Courts Building Site: From hosting the 

pioneering efforts of the National Women’s Party in the quest for universal suffrage 

to serving as the initial headquarters of NASA, the National Courts Building site has 

been witness to several extraordinary and significant events that have shaped the 

course of both U.S. and world history. The National Women’s Party, also known as 

the Silent Sentinels, etched their mark on history as the first organization to picket 

the White House, marching from their national headquarters at the historic Tayloe 

House. The Cutts-Madison House served as the first headquarters for NASA from 

1958 until October 1961. During this time period, the Mercury Seven astronauts

were first introduced to the country. The “Original Seven” were largely responsible 

for the creation of a new profession in the United States, establishing the image of 

the American astronaut for decades to come. In 1959, two female monkeys, Able and 

Miss Baker, were introduced to the world as the first two primates to be launched 

into space and return home safely.

In 1865, on the night of the shooting of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, Lewis 

Powell, a co-conspirator to John Wilkes Booth, attempted to murder Secretary of 

State William Seward while he was recovering from a carriage accident in his home. 

Seward, living in what is now the Federal Circuit’s Library, fortunately survived the 

attack in no small part due to the splint he wore around his broken jaw and the metal 

cage around his chest from the previous accident. 

The historic homes also served as the Cosmos Club headquarters from 1882 to 1952, 

which hosted several individuals involved in numerous significant meetings

throughout those decades. For example, in 1888, several members of the Cosmos 
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Club came together to form the National Geographic Society. Orville Wright stayed 

at the Cosmos Club in the Fall of 1908, utilizing it as a sanctuary during test flights 

for the military at Fort Myer. Stephen Mather, a renowned member of the Cosmos 

Club, would spend long hours at the Club promoting legislation that would end up 

eventually establishing the National Parks Service in 1916. The Commissioner of the

Bureau of Indian Affairs, John Collier, held a meeting with leaders of Native 

American tribes to create the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which aimed to

reverse the traditional goal of cultural assimilation of Native Americans into 

American society. And on December 6, 1941, one day before the attack on Pearl 

Harbor, Vannevar Bush, James Conant, and Arthur Compton gathered at the 

Cosmos Club to discuss the Manhattan Project, ushering in the nuclear age and the 

creation of the atomic bomb.

The National Courts Building stands not just as a courthouse, but as a living 

testament to the interplay of law, science, and technology—a stage where the past 

converges with the present to shape an enlightened future. 

Media and Public Contact 

Patrick Chesnut

Chief of Staff, Office of the Circuit Executive

publicinformation@cafc.uscourts.gov

202-275-8040

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