REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
2026 Alabama Chapters Conference
Please join the Alabama Lawyer Chapters for our annual statewide conference—this year in Huntsville!
Thursday, September 10
6:00 p.m. | Cocktail reception and planetarium show
Friday, September 11
9:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. | All day conference
U.S. Space & Rocket Center
1 Tranquility Base
Huntsville, AL 35805
CONFERENCE PRICING
Students & Law Clerks: $25
Member: $75
Non-Member: $150
Welcome Reception: Free for conference attendees; $25 for guests
CLE
CLE credit in Alabama expected.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
The Federalist Society has a small room block available at the Huntsville Marriott at the Space & Rocket Center. If you are in need of a hotel room, please email Abbie Brower at abbie.brower@fedsoc.org. The rate is $159.
Rooms are available on a first come, first serve basis.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE AND REFUNDS
Registration will close at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, September 7, 2026. This is also the deadline to receive a refund for a cancellation. No refunds will be given after the deadline has passed.
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9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Registration
9:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Welcome Remarks
10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Panel I: Constitutional Foundations of AI Governance: Federal Preemption, State Innovation, and Structural Limits
Huntsville, AL
Description
Who has the authority to regulate artificial intelligence—the federal government, the states, or the market itself? This panel will examine the constitutional foundations and limits of AI regulation, including Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause, the role of state police powers, and the constraints imposed by the Dormant Commerce Clause and federal preemption. Participants will explore whether state AI regulations serve as valuable laboratories of democracy or create constitutionally suspect burdens on interstate commerce. The discussion will also consider the broader policy and constitutional implications of government regulation versus market-driven approaches to emerging technologies.
11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Panel II: Space Law 101: Navigating the New Frontier
Huntsville, AL
Description
As commercial space activity accelerates and national security priorities extend beyond the atmosphere, space law has become one of the fastest-growing and least understood areas of legal practice. This panel brings together government attorneys, defense contractors, academics, and practitioners for a broad survey of the field — designed to get lawyers of all backgrounds up to speed on where space law stands today.
Panelists will range widely across the topics reshaping this space, from the ongoing disputes over relocating NASA headquarters and U.S. Space Command to Huntsville, to broader questions of treaty law, commercial launch licensing and liability, export controls, spectrum and orbital allocation, procurement, and the legal limits of military activity in orbit. Attendees will leave with a foundational grasp of the issues shaping this rapidly evolving domain — and the many practice areas it touches.
12:45 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch
1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Keynote
2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Panel III: Lessons from the Declaration of Independence and the Founders for Today
Huntsville, AL
Description
The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence provides a unique opportunity to contemplate the values that drove the revolutionaries and that ground the American legal system. This exercise takes on added significance as some, for political advantage, falsely characterize what the Founders were truly fighting against. This panel explores how the Founders' actual motivations reflect conservative and libertarian ideals that remain valid today. Accordingly, the panel brings together scholars, former government officials, and other practicing lawyers to describe how their work on cutting edge legal issues is informed by the Founders.
3:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Brief closing remarks
3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Closing Reception