(Bloomberg) -- A group of former Labor Department lawyers endorsed Eugene Scalia as the Trump administration’s pick for Labor secretary in a letter to lawmakers late last week.
The letter, dated Aug. 30, was sent to Senator Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, and ranking member Senator Patty Murray of Washington State. The former officials praised Scalia, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for his deep knowledge of labor law and fair, open disposition.
Scalia previously served as solicitor of the Labor Department.
“We believe that Gene would be an outstanding secretary of Labor in this administration, and we fully support Gene’s nomination,” the officials said in the letter, which was signed by 13 people and obtained by Bloomberg News.
Trump said in July that he’d nominate Scalia to replace Alex Acosta, who resigned earlier this summer amid questions over his handling of a decade-old sex-crimes case against financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The signatories, all former career officials with the Labor Department, said that Scalia was previously “very supportive of enforcement litigation to vindicate the rights of workers, both at the trial and appellate levels” and “would bring a powerful intellect to the position.”
They praised him as fair, open and honest, a good listener, and a people person with a wry sense of humor.
Still, it’s Scalia’s record of representing high-profile clients such as Ford Motor Co. and Walmart. Inc. in lawsuits from employees, that is forming the basis of criticism from Democratic lawmakers, unions, and progressive advocacy groups.
Murray said in a July statement that Scalia has spent “the last 18 years defending corporations who have trampled on the rights of their workers” and is “the wrong choice” for labor secretary.
The AFL-CIO has also expressed strong opposition to Scalia, who has yet to be formally nominated to the post.
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