Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch walks down the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court after his investiture ceremony June 15, 2017. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM |

The Federalist Society's annual convention on Nov. 16 features Justice Neil Gorsuch as its ticket-only dinner speaker and a convention theme close to his heart: administrative agencies and the regulatory state.

Gorsuch, who follows in the footsteps of last year's dinner speaker, Justice Clarence Thomas, has written critically about so-called Chevron deference that federal courts give to federal agencies' interpretations of statutes. That deference, which Thomas also has criticized, often leads to abdication of the role courts play in reviewing regulations, according to the newest justice. The first showcase panel of the convention is on administrative agencies and the federal judiciary.

Besides Gorsuch, the convention will feature speeches by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House Counsel Donald McGahn. Federal appellate judges moderating panel discussions during the convention include: William Pryor Jr. and Kevin Newsom of the Eleventh Circuit, Diane Sykes of the Seventh Circuit, David Barron of the First Circuit, and A. Raymond Randolph of the D.C. Circuit.

Those panel discussions cover such topics as Congress and the administrative state; the administrative state and religious freedom; race and sex as “prime movers” of the expansion of the administrative state, and the regulatory state of the internet.

A special session is called: Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith and Life Well Lived. Christopher Scalia, a son of the late justice, is on the panel with Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the Sixth Circuit, a former Scalia clerk.

A number of Trump administration officials are scheduled to participate, including Labor secretary R. Alexander Acosta, Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, Office of Management and Budget's Neomi Rao and Philip Miscimarra of the National Labor Relations Board.

The convention runs for three days, closing Nov. 18 with the special session on Scalia.

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