The Labor Department needs to persuade a Texas judge that federal benefits law provides it with clear authority to promulgate its sustainable 401(k) investing regulation, after the Fifth Circuit sent a challenge to the rule back to the trial court.
Defending the 2022 rule, which makes it easier for retirement plans to consider factors like sustainability when selecting investments, will be tougher for the Department of Labor after the US Supreme Court eliminated a long-standing agency deference standard in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s earlier decision to uphold the rule leaned heavily on agency deference under ...