Story highlights Conservative lawyers and judges are excited about who Trump will nominate to the Supreme Court

"It's not the wake we thought it was going to be"

Washington (CNN) As President-elect Donald Trump considers the current Supreme Court vacancy, Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and other legal giants kicked off a conference bringing together judicial conservatives from all over the country.

What a difference a few weeks makes.

The subject of the conference, sponsored by the conservative Federalist Society, was the jurisprudence of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. But the talk in the hallways was devoted to the unexpected election results and the pending Supreme Court nomination -- expected to be a conservative who would continue Scalia's legacy.

Indeed, several of the judges Trump is considering for the Supreme Court were milling about in the hallways, dodging journalists and moderating various panels.

"It's not the wake we thought it was going to be," said Randy Barnett, a professor of Georgetown law who was an architect of the first legal challenge against the Affordable Care Act.

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