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New Delhi: Neal Katyal, the Indian-American attorney, will appear before the US Supreme Court on Wednesday when a hearing is scheduled for oral arguments concerning the legality of President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs he first announced in April.
The highest US court will decide if the Trump's global tariffs are legal, in a major test of his presidential power. Several businesses and 12 US states challenged the tariffs, calling them illegal and demanding they be struck down.
The Supreme Court took up the Justice Department's appeal of a lower court's ruling that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. If the ruling does not come in his favour, it could tie his hands in trade negotiations. The US President said that if he loses the case the US will be "weakened" and in a "financial mess" for many years to come.
Who is Neal Katyal?
Neal Katyal, who served as an acting US solicitor general under ex-President Obama, will be representing a coalition of small businesses and Democratic-led states that termed Trump's tariffs unconstitutional.
The 54-year-old, one of the nation’s most experienced Supreme Court litigators, was picked to argue the case after a coin toss between the plaintiffs’ lawyers, according to Bloomberg.
“The President’s claim of authority here is breathtaking,” Katyal wrote in an October 20 court filing. “The IEEPA never mentions tariffs, and in 50 years, no other President has used it for that purpose.”
Katyal has argued over 50 cases before the Supreme Court, including landmark decisions such as Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Moore v. Harper.
Born in Chicago to Indian immigrant parents, a doctor mother and an engineer father, Katyal is a Yale Law School graduate.
Katyal is known for his critical view of Trump’s policies, including his 2017 travel ban. He is also the author of Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump. He is often described as a "Trump tormentor" for opposing his policies.
“This case isn’t about politics,” a source close to Katyal’s team said. “It’s about preserving the constitutional balance between Congress and the President and making sure no one man controls the nation’s economic fate.”
