Neal Kumar Katyal (born March 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and legal scholar. He is a partner at Milbank LLP and is the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center.[2][3][4]
Previously he served as a lawyer in the Solicitor General's office and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the United States Department of Justice.
While serving at the Justice Department, Katyal argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court, including his successful defense (by an 8–1 decision) of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Northwest Austin v. Holder.[12] Katyal also successfully argued in favor of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, and won a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court defending former Attorney General John Ashcroft against alleged abuses of civil liberties in the war on terror in Ashcroft v. al-Kidd. Katyal is also the only head of the Solicitor General's office to argue in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.[13]
On May 24, 2011, speaking as Acting Solicitor General, Katyal delivered the keynote speech at the Department of Justice's Great Hall marking Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Developing comments he had posted officially on May 20,[15] Katyal issued the Justice Department's first public confession of its 1942 ethics lapse in arguing the Hirabayashi and Korematsu cases in the US Supreme Court, which had resulted in upholding the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent. He called those prosecutions – which were only vacated in the 1980s – "blots" on the reputation of his office, which the Supreme Court explicitly considers as deserving of "special credence" when arguing cases, and "an important reminder" of the need for absolute candor in arguing the United States government's position on every case.[16] Katyal also lectured at Fordham Law School concerning that decision.[17]
Upon leaving the Obama administration, Katyal returned to Georgetown University Law Center, but also became a partner at the global law firm Hogan Lovells.[20] He specializes in constitutional law, national security, criminal defense, and intellectual property law, as well as running the appellate practice once run by John Roberts. During law school Katyal clerked one summer at Hogan Lovells, where he worked for Roberts before Roberts became a judge.[21]
In 2015, Katyal had a cameo in the third season of the American television series House of Cards, portraying a lawyer arguing a case in the Supreme Court .[22]
In 2017, The American Lawyer magazine named Katyal its Grand Prize Litigator of the Year for 2016 and 2017.[23]
In 2019, Katyal published his first book, Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump, with Sam Koppelman.[26][27] Katyal and Koppelman also wrote a TIME editorial titled "Impeaching Trump Is Imperative to Preserving Our Democracy."[28]
In 2020, Katyal represented Nestlé and Cargill at the Supreme Court in Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe, a class-action suit brought by former enslaved children who were kidnapped and forced to work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast.[29][30] Katyal's argument was that Nestlé and Cargill should not be held liable under United States law for their use of child slave labor because international law does not apply to corporations. Katyal cited as an example that the company which supplied Zyklon B to the Nazis to kill Jews and other minorities in extermination camps was not indicted at the Nuremberg trials. Katyal was criticized by publications including The New Republic.[31][32]
In 2021, Katyal represented financial giant Citigroup in their efforts to recoup a mistaken transfer of $900 million to creditors of Revlon Inc.[33] He also worked with the prosecution team in State v. Chauvin.[34]
In 2022, Katyal argued for the respondents in Moore v. Harper before the Supreme Court, a case involving election law, redistricting and the independent state legislature theory.[36] The court rejected the independent legislature theory and thus upheld Katyal's position by a 6–3 vote.
Also in 2022, Katyal represented Johnson & Johnson in a civil suit against the company for selling talcum baby powder contaminated with carcinogens. His billing rate for this was $2,465 per hour.[37]
On February 12, 2025, Milbank announced that Katyal will be leading the appellate practice of their Washington D.C. office.[38]
On April 2, 2025, President Donald J. Trump announced on Truth Social that Milbank had agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono legal services to causes supported by his administration and the law firm. The law firm also agreed to use a merit-based system and to not engage in “illegal D.E.I. discrimination.[39]
In addition to Gorsuch, Katyal spoke highly of Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.[45] In multiple tweets that were cited by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in favor of Kavanaugh's confirmation,[46] Katyal praised Kavanaugh's "credentials [and] hardworking nature",[47] and described his "mentoring and guidance" of female law clerks as "a model for all of us in the legal profession".[48] Katyal has also called Kavanaugh "incredibly likable".[49]
Honors and awards
The US Justice Department awarded Katyal the Edmund Randolph Award, the highest honor the department can bestow on a civilian. The National Law Journal named Katyal its runner-up for "Lawyer of the Year" in 2006 and in 2004 awarded him its Pro Bono award.[50][51]American Lawyer Magazine considered him one of the top 50 litigators nationally.[52]Washingtonian Magazine named him one of the 30 best living Supreme Court advocates.[53]
Katyal attended Burning Man 2023, during which heavy rainfall caused flash flooding. He hiked six miles in the mud to get out of the festival, which he called "incredibly harrowing".[58]
^ abKatyal, Neal Kumar. "Curriculum vitae"(PDF). Georgetown University Law Center. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
^"Remarks to Representatives of the Legal Community"(PDF). Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. 35 (29). U.S. Government Publishing Office: 1430. July 20, 1999. Archived(PDF) from the original on March 10, 2010. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
^Pareene, Alex; Noah, Timothy; Noah, Timothy; Caldwell, Christopher; Caldwell, Christopher; Bahadur, Gaiutra; Bahadur, Gaiutra; Ford, Matt; Ford, Matt (December 8, 2020). "Neal Katyal and the Depravity of Big Law". The New Republic. ISSN0028-6583. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
^Deanna Paul, Jacob Gershman and Joe Barrett.(22 April 2021). "The Derek Chauvin Prosecutors and Their Big Gamble". Wall Street Journal website Retrieved 22 April 2021.
^Press release (December 18, 2006). "The Natw Journal Selects Libby Defense Lawyer Theodore Wells as 2006 Lawyer of the Year," National Law JournalArchived 2017-02-24 at the Wayback Machine ("The (National Law Journal) also named Neal K. Katyal and Carter G. Phillips as this year's runners-up.") Retrieved February 22, 2017.
^Staff (November 5, 2015). "Washington, DC's Best Lawyers: Supreme Court," WashingtonianArchived 2017-02-24 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 22, 2017
