Trump to tap Eugene Scalia for labor secretary

President Donald Trump said late Thursday that he intends to nominate Eugene Scalia to serve as the next secretary of labor following the resignation of Alex Acosta, whose last day is Friday. Mr. Acosta’s deputy secretary Patrick Pizzella will serve as acting secretary until Mr. Scalia can be confirmed by the Senate once it receives the formal nomination.

Mr. Scalia, a partner in the Washington office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and son of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, has had “great success in the legal and labor field,” Mr. Trump said in a pair of tweets.

Mr. Scalia is considered an accomplished litigator and administrative law expert, including prominent cases involving the Department of Labor, most notably reversal of its fiduciary rule. He was part of a Gibson Dunn team representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, SIFMA and other associations in successful challenges to the fiduciary rule., including during oral arguments before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

He has extensive Labor Department experience, including serving as solicitor, the legal officer responsible for all department litigation and legal advice on rule-making and administrative law. He also served as a special assistant to the attorney general where he successfully challenged numerous federal agency actions.

Those challenges include representing MetLife in removing its designation as a non-bank systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

His experience working with regulators on financial and labor issues comes at an interesting time for the Labor Department, which is reconsidering a new fiduciary rule proposal in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s best-interest rule-making.

American Securities Association CEO Christopher Iacovella called Mr. Scalia “a fantastic pick to serve as the next labor secretary.”

“ASA looks forward to working with him to ensure the DOL harmonizes its rule with the SEC’s regulation best interest rule,” Mr. Iacovella.