A Carnegie Library Story

Corporation funding helped to support a September 29, 2006 conference that took place in Washington, D.C. under the leadership of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Justice Stephen Breyer. The gathering, which was sponsored by the Georgetown University Law School and the American Law Institute, focused on “Fair and Independent Courts: A Conference on the State of the Judiciary” and involved leaders from the business and media communities, nonprofit sector, and government, including John G. Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States. Participants addressed such topics as the history and contemporary criticisms of the judiciary; judicial selection and removal at both the federal and state levels; judicial elections; interbranch relations; recent polls of public attitudes; the role of the media; and suggestions for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the judiciary. At the conference, Justice Clarence Thomas sought out Carnegie Corporation’s president, Vartan Gregorian, who was attending the conference, and handed Dr. Greogorian his business card with this text handwritten on the back: “The Carnegie library in Savannah, Georgia, was my sanctuary. It was the library that served blacks, since we were not allowed to go to the Savannah Public Library. It continues to have a very special place in my heart.”