Former US Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal has emerged as the face of a historic Supreme Court decision striking down Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. He called Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy tariffs on every trading partner an unjust and unconstitutional tax.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Katyal said, “Today the Supreme Court of America stood its ground for the rule of law and for the entire America. The message was simple that the President is powerful, but our Constitution is even more powerful than that. In America, only Congress can tax the American people.”
Traders had filed a case
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of small businessmen and was supported by the Liberty Justice Center. Trump described the trade deficit and fentanyl overdose deaths as a national emergency, calling the tariffs necessary for national security and economic benefit. Katyal described this decision as an important achievement from the constitutional point of view. He said, “The US Supreme Court has fulfilled every demand of ours in our legal case. Everything has been fulfilled.”
He further said, “This case has always been about the presidency, not any one president. I am extremely pleased to see that our Supreme Court, which has been the cornerstone of our government for the last 250 years, is protecting our most fundamental values.”
Who is Neel Katyal?
Born in Chicago to Indian immigrant parents (a doctor and an engineer), Katyal has made his career advocating for important constitutional cases. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School and has clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
After being appointed Acting Solicitor General by President Barack Obama in 2010, Katyal represented the federal government before the US Supreme Court and appellate courts. He has argued more than 50 cases before the Supreme Court, which is a record for minority lawyers.
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