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

Washington: The son of Indian immigrants who once served as America’s top courtroom advocate has emerged as the face of a landmark Supreme Court judgement that overthrew President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Neal Katyal, a former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, argued against Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose what he described as “unjust, unconstitutional taxes” on imports from nearly every trading partner.

Moments after the ruling, Katyal said: “Today, 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 people.”

The 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 emergencies.

Katyal framed the ruling as a constitutional milestone. “The US Supreme Court gave us everything we asked for in our legal case. Everything,” he said.

“This 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. I’m gratified to see our Supreme Court, which has been the bedrock of our government for 250 years, protect our most fundamental values,” Katyal said.

Born in Chicago to Indian immigrant parents — a doctor and an engineer — Katyal has built a career around high-stakes constitutional battles. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School and clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer of the US Supreme Court.

Appointed 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 advocates.

Currently 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 Trump’s 2017 travel ban, and winning unanimous rulings in major environmental and national security disputes.

He 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 Trump.

Katyal has received the US Justice Department’s 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 2025.

The Supreme Court’s decision on Trump’s tariff is expected to limit a president’s ability to use emergency economic powers to impose sweeping tariffs without explicit congressional authorization.

“Just 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 won,” he told MS Now in an interview.

“That is something so extraordinary about this country, the idea that we have a system that self-corrects, that allows us to say you might be the most powerful man in the world, but you still can’t break the Constitution. I mean, that to me is what today is about,” Katyal said.

“Today, 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 still,” he told MSNBC in another interview.

“In America, only Congress, the chief justice writing for six justices said, only Congress can impose taxes on the American people. And that’s what tariffs are. Tariffs are taxes,” he said, standing outside the Supreme Court.

IANS