Scalia Named Labor Secretary

The Republican-led U.S. Senate approved President Donald J. Trump’s nomination of Eugene Scalia, son of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and a former Department of Labor (DOL) solicitor general, to the role of Labor secretary, in late September.

Having served in the high-ranking DOL position under the George W. Bush administration, Scalia will likely hit the ground running with a markedly conservative agenda, experts suggest.

According to Brian Netter, a partner in the Washington office of Mayer Brown’s litigation and dispute resolution practice, Scalia is known for having worked in the trenches of numerous labor issues for many years.

When Scalia was nominated, he was engaged in what experts say was a very successful litigation practice, following his first position at the DOL.
Netter says the DOL’s position on promulgating new regulations to address industry conflict of interests will likely remain murky. And, given Scalia’s recent litigation experience representing clients opposed to stricter conflict standards, he would likely be called on to recuse himself from working on fiduciary issues under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

“He would, therefore, bring to the post a significant level of personal understanding of how to enact President Trump’s deregulatory agenda,” Netter says, adding that he thought Scalia could potentially have a big influence on the retirement planning marketplace.