A glimpse at the future of the Supreme Court?
Those hoping for a glimpse of the Supreme Court's future may wish to attend the 2016 Federalist Society Lawyers' Convention in Washington. The convention features remarks by two Supreme Court justices—Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito—as well as nine of the 21 people President-elect Donald Trump identified as potential high court picks to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Trump SCOTUS short-listers slated to speak or moderate panels at the conference are Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen, Judge Thomas Hardiman of the 3rd Circuit, Judge William Pryor of the 11th Circuit, Justice David Stras of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge Raymond Kethledge of the 6th Circuit, Justice Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court, Judge Diane Sykes of the 7th Circuit, Justice Allison Eid of the Colorado Supreme Court and Judge Steven Colloton of the 8th Circuit. This list includes all three identified as the most likely picks by PredictIt.
Conference speakers also include others often identified as potential Supreme Court nominees, such as former solicitor general Paul Clement and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), as well as numerous constitutional law scholars and court experts, including Akhil Reed Amar, William Eskridge, Michael McConnell and Richard Epstein.
Were that not enough, as I noted before, the conference is also an opportunity to see several regular contributors to the Volokh Conspiracy. Orin Kerr, Randy Barnett, Ilya Somin, Nicholas Rosenkranz and Eugene Volokh are all speaking at the conference. (I'll also be signing copies of "Business and the Roberts Court" on Friday.) The full schedule is here.