5 min readNew DelhiFeb 22, 2026 05:40 PM IST
First published on: Feb 22, 2026 at 05:37 PM IST
On Friday (February 20), the 6-3 ruling of the conservative-majority Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to strike down US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs put the spotlight on the face of this challenge to presidential authority. Neal Katyal, the Indian-origin American lawyer who represented small businesses affected by these tariffs along with co-counsel Sara Albrecht, argued in court that tariffs being a form of taxation, only the US Congress had the power to impose such taxes — and that the US President overstepped his constitutional authority by using them against other countries as an economic and foreign policy measure.
In a statement on X following the verdict, Katyal wrote: “Today, the U.S. 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.”
“This case has always been about the presidency, not any one president. It has always been about separation of powers, and not the politics of the moment,” he added.
So, who is Neal Katyal and how did he make his name as one of the sharpest constitutional minds in the US? We explain.
Who is Neal Katyal?
Katyal was born on March 12, 1970, in Chicago to Indian immigrants — his mother Pratibha was a paediatrician and his father Surendar an engineer.
A graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, he served as a law clerk in the office of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in the mid-1990s and was also a summer associate at the law firm Hogan & Hartson where he worked with then practitioner John Roberts, who is now the Chief Justice of the United States.
He became widely known when he was appointed as the Acting Solicitor General in 2010 by then President Barack Obama. Over the years, Katyal built his reputation as a constitutional lawyer and has argued over 50 cases in the SCOTUS till date, more than any other minority lawyer. In doing so, he surpassed the record set by Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights lawyer who served as Solicitor General in 1965 under President Lyndon B Johnson and then went on to become the first African-American Supreme Court justice in 1967.
Currently a partner at the law firm Milbank LLP and a law professor at Georgetown University, Katyal’s previous high-profile cases include the challenge to Trump’s 2017 travel ban (colloquially known as the “Muslim ban”) during the president’s first term. He also was a special prosecutor in the George Floyd murder case, where he helped secure the conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin. Another major case was his defence of the constitutionality of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2009.
In 2011, he received the Edmund J Randolph Award, the highest award given to a civilian by the US Department of Justice. He also co-authored the 2019 book Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump (with Sam Koppelman) and was named in the annual Forbes list of top 200 lawyers in the US in both 2024 and 2025.
Even though the recent legal victory earned him praise, Katyal made it a point to thank both his co-counsel Albrecht and his own team at Milbank. He wrote: “I’m grateful for the leadership of the Liberty Justice Center, and in particular for the brilliant advocacy by its chair, Sara Albrecht, who led the fight when others wouldn’t and was dauntless in its defense of our constitutional order…. Finally, I lack the words to properly thank my brilliant Milbank team, especially Colleen Roh Sinzdak and Sami Ilagan, who worked with me day and night for many months to craft the winning argument.”
Katyal’s response to Trump’s new tariffs
Following the SCOTUS verdict, Trump on Friday called the ruling “deeply disappointing” and said that the justices who formed the majority opinion should be “absolutely ashamed”. He also announced a new 10% global tariff to replace the ones struck down, saying that he would turn to other laws to press ahead with his tariffs. “We have alternatives – great alternatives and we’ll be a lot stronger for it,” he said.
On Saturday, Trump further raised the US global tariff to 15% under an executive order citing Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which will be imposed starting Tuesday (February 24). Although the 15% tariff is the highest rate allowed under that statute, those tariffs are limited to 150 days unless they are extended by Congress. It is noteworthy that no US president has previously invoked Section 122, and this might lead to further legal challenges.
Responding to Trump’s announcement, Katyal wrote on X: “Seems hard for the President to rely on the 15 percent statute (sec 122) when his DOJ in our case told the Court the opposite… If he wants sweeping tariffs, he should do the American thing and go to Congress. If his tariffs are such a good idea, he should have no problem persuading Congress. That’s what our Constitution requires.”
A graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, Neal Katyal served as a law clerk in the office of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in the mid-1990s. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) 
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