OSHA closes more than half of workers' coronavirus retaliation complaints without investigating

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2. Scalia Defends Views On Workplace Safety

Washington Post, Wednesday, October 3, 2001, page A2

Scalia Defends Views On Workplace Safety

Eugene Scalia, President Bush's nominee as the Labor Department's top lawyer, defended his opposition to workplace safety regulations at a Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. ... "For a lawyer to shade or slant his legal advice to advance a private agenda is among the gravest betrayals of his solemn duty as an attorney," said Scalia, a Washintton labor lawyer and son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Democrats on the Health, Educaion, Labor and Pensions Committee appeared to be solidly against Scalia, who had criticized ergonomics and Clinton-era regulations as "quackery" and "junk science." ... The vote that will probably determine whether Democrats can block Scalia's nomination from the Senate floor is that of Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.). A spokesman said Jeffords supports Scalia's nomination.

Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Scalia's "views are outside the mainstream on many issues of vital importance to the nation's workers and their families." ... Scalia said he thinks ergonomics-related injuries do exist, and that his criticism was aimed at the specific regulation, which he thought went too far. He said scientific evidence supporting it did not satisfy the Supreme Court's legal "junk science" test.