Meet Neal Katyal, Indian-American lawyer who stopped Trump's tariffs

The son of Indian immigrants who once served as Americarsquos top courtroom advocate has emerged as the face of a landmark Supreme Court judgement that overthrew President Donald Trumprsquos sweeping tariffsNeal Katyal a former Acting Solicitor General of the United States argued against Trumprsquos use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act IEEPA to impose what he described as ldquounjust unconstitutional taxesrdquo on imports from nearly every trading partnerMoments after the ruling Katyal said ldquoToday the United States Supreme Court stood up for the rule of law and Americans everywhere Its message was simple Presidents are powerful but our Constitution is more powerful still In America only Congress can impose taxes on the American peoplerdquoThe case was brought by small businesses and supported by the Liberty Justice Center Trump had defended the tariffs as vital to national security and economic leverage citing trade deficits and fentanyl overdoses as national emergenciesKatyal framed the ruling as a constitutional milestone The US Supreme Court gave us everything we asked for in our legal case Everythingrdquo he saidldquoThis case has always been about the presidency not any one president It has always been about the separation of powers and not the politics of the moment Im gratified to see our Supreme Court which has been the bedrock of our government for 250 years protect our most fundamental valuesrdquo Katyal saidBorn in Chicago to Indian immigrant parents mdash a doctor and an engineer mdash Katyal has built a career around highstakes constitutional battles He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School and clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer of the US Supreme CourtAppointed Acting Solicitor General by President Barack Obama in 2010 Katyal represented the federal government before the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals nationwide He has argued more than 50 cases before the Supreme Court breaking records for minority advocatesCurrently a partner at Milbank LLP and the Paul Saunders Professor at Georgetown University Law Center Katyal specialises in constitutional and complex appellate litigation His past cases include defending the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 challenging Trumprsquos 2017 travel ban and winning unanimous rulings in major environmental and national security disputesHe has also served as Special Prosecutor for the State of Minnesota in the murder case of George Floyd and is the author of the book Impeach The Case Against Donald TrumpKatyal has received the US Justice Departmentrsquos highest civilian honour the Edmund Randolph Award and has been named Litigator of the Year by The American Lawyer in 2017 and 2023 Forbes listed him among the top 200 lawyers in the United States in 2024 and 2025The Supreme Courtrsquos decision on Trumprsquos tariff is expected to limit a presidentrsquos ability to use emergency economic powers to impose sweeping tariffs without explicit congressional authorizationldquoJust think about it like that The son of immigrants was able to go to court and say on behalf of American small businesses hey this president is acting illegally And I was able to present my case have them ask really hard questions at me It was a really intense oral argument And at the end of it they voted and we wonrdquo he told MS Now in an interviewldquoThat is something so extraordinary about this country the idea that we have a system that selfcorrects that allows us to say you might be the most powerful man in the world but you still cant break the Constitution I mean that to me is what today is aboutrdquo Katyal saidldquoToday the United States Supreme Court stood up for the rule of law stood up for Americans everywhere Its message was simple Presidents are powerful but our constitution is more powerful stillrdquo he told MSNBC in another interviewldquoIn America only Congress the chief justice writing for six justices said only Congress can impose taxes on the American people And thats what tariffs are Tariffs are taxesrdquo he said standing outside the Supreme CourtThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever