Texas Judge Upholds Labor Agency’s ESG 401(k) Investing Rule (1)

A Biden-era Labor Department rule permitting sustainable 401(k) investing was upheld by a Texas federal judge, a loss for red-state attorneys general whose challenge to the regulation had been sent back to the district court by the Fifth Circuit.

The appeals panel had called for Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to consider the impact of a US Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Chevron doctrine on the DOL environmental, social, and corporate governance rule. The doctrine had long allowed judges to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of statutes that are silent ...