Indian-origin lawyer Neal Katyal won case for Osama bin Laden’s driver long before blocking Trump’s tariffs

Neal Katyal, the American lawyer credited with securing a major Supreme Court setback for US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, has a long record of high‑profile legal victories, including a Supreme Court case defending a Guantanamo Bay detainee who was once Osama bin Laden’s driver.

55-year-old Katyal argued before the United States Supreme Court this week on behalf of small businesses and trade associations challenging Trump’s sweeping tariff actions. The court ruled 6‑3 that the president lacked authority to impose broad tariffs without explicit congressional approval, reaffirming constitutional limits on executive power.




In a statement after the ruling, Katyal wrote that the Supreme Court “stood up for the rule of law and Americans everywhere” and said that the decision was a “complete and total victory” for his clients.

His legal career stretches back decades. In 2006, Katyal was lead counsel in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, a United States Supreme Court case that challenged the Bush administration’s system of military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay.

The case concerned Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni national captured in Afghanistan in 2001 who had served as a driver and guard for Osama bin Laden. Hamdan was among the first detainees designated to face trial by military commission at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court held 5‑3 that the military commissions, as they were structured, violated both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions, because they lacked proper authorization from Congress.

Katyal and his co‑counsel argued that the executive branch did not have the authority to set up a military commission outside the ordinary processes of military justice and international law. The decision marked a major check on executive wartime powers and underscored the court’s role in enforcing legal protections for detainees.

Neal was born in Chicago in 1970 to parents who immigrated from India. Katyal has built a career as one of the nation’s most experienced appellate lawyers. He served as Acting Solicitor General in 2010‑11 under President Barack Obama and has argued more than 50 cases before the Supreme Court.

Katyal is currently a partner at the Washington, DC, law firm Milbank LLP and a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center.