The US Supreme Court may have given Donald Trump one of the biggest setbacks of his second term by striking down his favourite tariffs. But at the heart of the blow was the deft arguments made by an Indian-origin lawyer who has emerged as a pivotal figure in the landmark Supreme Court judgment that has left Trump furious. Meet Neal Katyal, a former Acting Solicitor General of the US and author, who represented a group of small businesses before the court and came out with a “complete and total victory” in his own words.
After the 6-3 Supreme Court ruling, Katyal, 55, said the order underscored an important message — presidents are powerful, but the US Constitution is more powerful still. “Today, the US Supreme Court stood up for the rule of law and Americans everywhere. In America, only Congress can impose taxes on the American people,” Katyal tweeted.
In an interview, Katyal, who is currently a partner at Milbank LLP, highlighted a crucial aspect — two of President Trump’s three judge appointees voted against him in the case.
But who is Neal Katyal, whose legal challenge handed the mother of setbacks for Trump?
WHO IS NEAL KATYAL?
Katyal was born on March 12, 1970, in Chicago to Indian immigrants — Pratibha (doctor) and Surender (engineer). He completed his graduation from Dartmouth College and then pursued further studies at the high-profile Yale Law School. His command of security laws and constitutional matters caught the attention of Justice Stephen Breyer of the US Supreme Court. Katyal worked as a clerk under him for a few years.
His major break came when he was appointed as the Acting Solicitor General by President Barack Obama in 2010. During his tenure, he argued more than 50 cases before the Supreme Court.
It was a record for the most number of cases argued by a minority attorney, surpassing Thurgood Marshall, who served in 1965 under President Lyndon B Johnson. Marshall went on to become the first African-American Supreme Court justice in 1967.
Now, coming back to Katyal. Among the key cases he has featured in are defending the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and challenging Trump’s 2017 travel ban, which, however, was upheld by the Supreme Court.
His judicial prowess earned him the US Justice Department’s highest civilian honour, the Edmund Randolph Award, in 2011. He also featured in Forbes’ top 200 lawyers in the US for two years (2024 and 2025).
At the same time, Katyal has also kept his touch with academics, serving as a law professor at Georgetown University Law Centre. He has also been a visiting professor at both Harvard and Yale. He has also authored the book ‘Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump’, which was published in 2019.
The latest US Supreme Court ruling has definitely punctured Trump’s tariff push. For Katyal, the verdict cements his reputation as one of the most formidable legal minds in the US.
Katyal has already grabbed attention in India for his latest legal exploits. “So it took a very talented lawyer, of Indian origin, Neal Katyal, to drag the Trump administration to the highest court of the land and obtain a reversal for the unlawfully imposed tariffs,” tweeted political analyst Raju Parulekar.
After the court setback, Trump said he had several moves up his sleeve on tariffs. The battle may have just begun for Indian-origin Katyal.
