Republican circuit court Judge Edith Jones on Monday “relentlessly peppered” the Department of Labor on what she viewed as trouble spots in its fiduciary rule's controversial best interest contract exemption during oral arguments in the case brought by nine plaintiffs against the rule, according to Miller & Chevalier attorney Erin Sweeney.

Jones, a Reagan appointee, was part of a three-judge panel that heard oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's appeal, which resulted from an adverse lower decision issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. 

Sweeney, who attended the arguments, said Jones probed Labor's attorney, Michael Shih, with questions on how the BICE “could be 'harmonized' with the statutory 'eligible investment advice arrangement' exemption, the basis for the DOL's authority over individual retirement accounts, and whether the BICE impermissibly creates a private right of action.”