On July 18th President Trump announced his intention to nominate Eugene Scalia to replace former Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta.  Gene Scalia is the son of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  In 2002, following an appointment by former President George W. Bush, Gene Scalia served as solicitor of the Department of Labor.

Mr. Scalia has a history of fighting agency regulatory actions, including OSHA’s issuance of citations to SeaWorld in 2010 following an incident when a killer whale attacked and killed a SeaWorld trainer.  Mr. Scalia was the attorney of record when the case was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The primary argument on appeal was the application of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) to SeaWorld.  In a 2-1 decision, the Court’s decision upheld the agency’s citation to SeaWorld with Judge Kavanaugh (current Supreme Court Justice) writing the dissent in which he stated, “it is simply not plausible to assert that Congress, when passing the Occupational Safety and Health Act, silently intended to authorize the Department of Labor to eliminate familiar sports and entertainment practices, such as punt returns in the N.F.L., speeding in Nascar, or the whale show at SeaWorld.”

By many, Mr. Scalia would be an asset to the Department of Labor.