Here is some coverage of the Federalist Society convention: Fred Lucas of CNS News on Justice Thomas's talk Thursday; Robert Barnes of the Washington Post, on the Thursday night dinner with remarks by President Bush and by Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito; and Blog of the Legal Times on today's Barbara Olson Memorial Lecture by Chief Justice Roberts.

None of the press coverage I have seen picked up on what I thought was the most interesting remark in Justice Thomas's talk. An audience question began with the premise of his "commitment to natural law." He rejected the premise. He said natural law was an important concept in the philosophy that went into the Constitution, so one needs to understand it to understand the document, but he has never made natural law itself a basis for judging. That was very good to hear. When "natural law" is used as a basis for judicial review of statutes, it carries the danger of greasing the already slippery slope to judicial activism.

Also on today's program was a debate between Judge Reinhardt and Judge Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit on property rights. In the middle of a property rights debate, Judge Reinhardt managed to get in a swipe at the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996's limitations on habeas corpus. Really.