Private-sector lawyer Eugene Scalia, President Trump’s pick for labor secretary, gained approval from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on a party-line vote Tuesday.
The vote came just days after the nominee, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, had his first appearance before the committee, prompting Democrats to accuse the administration of rushing the nomination through before they had time to fully consider it. Scalia’s nomination now goes to the full Senate.
Scalia, 55, previously served as the Labor Department’s top solicitor, its third-ranking official, during the George W. Bush administration. He has had an extensive career in the private sector as a management-side lawyer and has been involved in some of the most prominent cases involving labor law of the last two decades.
The nominee has worked with the private-sector management-side firm Gibson Dunn and was the top lawyer for the Chamber of Commerce when it successfully challenged the Obama administration’s fiduciary rule, which would have required all advisers managing tax-privileged retirement accounts to act in their clients’ best interests. A federal court ruled last year that the administration exceeded its authority in enacting the rule.
Chairman Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, defended the nomination’s swift pace, saying it was not without precedent and that Scalia was qualified. “President Trump announced he planned to nominate Mr. Scalia about two months ago on July 18. So that means senators have had a little more than two months to consider his nomination,” Alexander said, noting the Scalia had met privately with all but two members of the committee.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the committee’s top Democrat, said they still hadn’t been given the appropriate time to properly evaluate him but also indicated she already formed formed her opinion regarding him. “Somebody who has so consistently defended corporations as opposed to workers on issues as critical as wage theft, discrimination, and workplace harassment doesn’t have the perspective workers and families really need,” she said.
