Eugene Scalia was born on August 14, 1963, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and Eugene was one of his nine children. He attended the University of Virginia, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He then went to the University of Chicago Law School.

Much of Scalia’s career has been spent in private law practice as a corporate lawyer. He worked for the firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, representing corporations such as SeaWorld, Walmart, and Boeing. He specialized in employment and labor law and often represented corporations that were trying to avoid or dismantle government regulations.

His career in government service began in 1985, when Scalia was an aid to Secretary of Education William Bennett in the administration of President Ronald Reagan; he held that position until 1987. He then served as a special assistant to Attorney General William Barr from 1992 to 1993 in the George H.W. Bush administration. In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Scalia as solicitor of the Department of Labor, the principal legal officer for the department.

President Donald Trump nominated Scalia as the 28^th Secretary of Labor on August 27, 2019. Critics of the appointment expressed concern that Scalia would not be able to represent the interests of workers after representing corporations for much of his career. However, the US Senate confirmed his appointment by a vote of 53 to 44, and he was sworn in on September 30, 2019.