The Indian-Origin Legal Mind Who Rocked Trump in Court

The Supreme Court of USA dealt a strong blow to Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs, which went unchecked for over a year since his assumption of office in January last year. The landmark verdict is now a talking point across the world because many countries were affected due the punitive economic measures taken by Trump’s administration.

Only on a few occasions in the history has the Supreme Court invalidated the decision of US President. At the heart of this pivotal legal decision is an Indian origin lawyer who made convincing arguments against Trump’s sweeping reforms and the illegality of the levies imposed by him. 

Neal Katyal, the son of Indian immigrants and the former acting Solicitor General of the United States under President Barack Obama, argued the landmark tariff case on behalf of small businesses and won it in their favour. 

Mr. Katyal was born in 1970 in Chicago to a paediatrician mother and an engineer father, both of whom immigrated from India to USA late in the 1960s. He completed his graduation from Dartmouth College and then went to Yale Law School. 

Aged 55 years, Katyal has argued dozens of consequential cases before the Court throughout his career so far. He currently serves as the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center and is a partner at global law firm Milbank LLP.

He also served as National Security Adviser in the US Justice Department when Bill Clinton was the president. 

Katyal took to X and hailed the US Supreme Court judgement. He said the Court stood up for the rule of law and Americans everywhere. He posted “Its message was simple: Presidents are powerful, but our Constitution is more powerful still. In America, only Congress can impose taxes on the American people.”