Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has announced that the Committee will hold a hearing on Sept. 19 to consider the nomination of Eugene Scalia to serve as Secretary of Labor.
President Trump had announced in July – via Twitter – his intention to nominate Scalia to the post that had just been vacated by Alexander Acosta, in the wake of controversy regarding a plea deal Acosta negotiated more than a decade ago with Jeffrey Epstein.
Scalia is currently a partner at the Washington, D.C. office of the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm. During the administration of President George W. Bush, he served as Solicitor of Labor, the Department’s principal legal officer with responsibility of a broad range of regulatory and enforcement matters. He is also, of course, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Considering that presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) both sit on the Senate HELP Committee, the hearing could be interesting for those who follow retirement policy.
One topic that’s sure to come up is whether Scalia will have any involvement in the shaping of the forthcoming revamp of the DOL’s conflict of interest rule or whether he would recuse himself.
Scalia served as counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce appellants in litigation that was ultimately successful in challenging the DOL’s attempt at rewriting the fiduciary rule. An August report in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) suggested that if he is confirmed, Scalia would probably be prevented under government ethics rules from participating in a rewrite of the rule.
The Sept. 19 hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. Eastern and can be viewed live here.
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