Indian-Origin Lawyer Neal Katyal Leads Supreme Court Victory Against Trump Tariffs

An Indian-origin lawyer played a key role in a landmark decision by the US Supreme Court that struck down former President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs.

Neal Katyal, a former Acting Solicitor General of the United States under President Barack Obama, argued the high-profile case on behalf of small American businesses. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of his arguments, delivering a significant verdict on the limits of presidential power.

Soon after the decision was announced, Katyal posted a brief message on X: “Victory.”

Speaking to MS Now, Katyal described the moment as a powerful example of how the American legal system works. “One of the great things about the American system is what just happened today,” he said. “I was able to go to court — the son of immigrants — and argue that the President was acting illegally. The justices asked tough questions, it was an intense argument, and in the end, we won.”

He added that the ruling showed how the system protects the Constitution, even against the most powerful office in the country. “You might be the most powerful man in the world, but you still can’t break the Constitution. That’s what today is about,” Katyal said.

In a statement after the verdict, Katyal said the Supreme Court had stood firmly for the rule of law. “Presidents are powerful, but our Constitution is more powerful still. In America, only Congress can impose taxes on the American people. The Court gave us everything we asked for in our legal case,” he said.

He also thanked the Liberty Justice Centre for leading the legal fight. According to Katyal, the case was not about politics or any one individual. “It has always been about separation of powers and protecting our most fundamental values,” he said.

Born in 1970 in Chicago to Indian immigrant parents, Katyal’s mother was a paediatrician and his father an engineer. He currently serves as a partner in the Washington, DC office of Milbank LLP, where he focuses on appellate and complex litigation.

Over the course of his career, Katyal has argued 54 cases before the US Supreme Court. He has also taught law for more than two decades at Georgetown University Law Center and has served as a visiting professor at Harvard and Yale law schools.

A graduate of Yale Law School, Katyal clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and later for Justice Stephen G. Breyer of the US Supreme Court. He also worked in the US Department of Justice, serving as National Security Advisor in the Deputy Attorney General’s Office between 1998 and 1999.

Katyal received the Edmund Randolph Award — the highest honour given to a civilian by the US Department of Justice — in 2011. He was also appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to the Advisory Committee on Federal Appellate Rules in 2011 and again in 2014.

In a post dated November 4, 2025, Katyal shared a photograph of a traditional ‘kada’ (bangle) placed on a legal brief related to the tariff case. Reflecting on his journey, he wrote, “Thinking of my father first and foremost, who came to this land of freedom… May the Constitution win.”