President Trump has made official his nomination of Eugene Scalia, a pro-business lawyer and son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to become secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL), following the July resignation of Alexander Acosta.
Eugene Scalia
Scalia, currently a partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, is “a renowned labor, employment, and regulatory lawyer. He has previously held several positions in the Federal Government,” according to a White House statement. “Scalia is a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a Federal agency that makes recommendations to Congress and the Executive branch on ways to improve agency procedures.”
Acosta, who left amid widespread criticism of his handling of child molestation charges against the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein while he was a Florida prosecutor, was viewed by many in the White House as moving too slowly on regulatory reform.
Scalia graduated from the University of Virginia before going on to receive his law degree from the University of Chicago. He later served as a lecturer in labor and employment law at the law school from which he graduated and also became an adjunct professor at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.
Patrick Pizzella is currently serving as acting DOL secretary.