Neal Katyal

Neal Katyal
Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States
In office February 3, 2009 – August 26, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Daryl Joseffer
Succeeded by	Sri Srinivasan
Solicitor General of the United States Acting
In office May 17, 2010 – June 9, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Elena Kagan
Succeeded by	Donald Verrilli
Personal details
Born	March 12, 1970 (1970-03-12) (age 41)
Alma mater	Dartmouth College Yale Law School
Religion	Hinduism

Neal Kumar Katyal (born March 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and chaired professor of law. He served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States from May 2010^[1] until June 2011. As Acting Solicitor General, Katyal succeeded Elena Kagan, who was President Barack Obama's choice to replace the retiring Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.^[2] Katyal was the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center and the lead counsel for the Guantanamo Bay detainees in the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay "violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions." While serving at the Justice Department, he has argued numerous Supreme Court cases, including his successful defense (by an 8-1 decision) of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the landmark case, Northwest Austin v. Holder. He also successfully argued in favor of the constitutionality of President Obama's health care bill and unanimously won a Supreme Court case defending former Attorney General John Ashcroft against alleged abuses of civil liberties in the war on terror. Katyal was also the only head of the Solicitor General's office to argue in the Federal Circuit.

Biography

Katyal is of Indian descent and was born in the United States to immigrant parents. His mother is a pediatrician and his father, who died in 2005, was an engineer. Katyal's sister, Sonia Katyal, is also an attorney; she teaches law at Fordham University. He was born in a Hindu household and studied at Loyola Academy, a Jesuit Catholic school in Wilmette, Illinois. He graduated in 1991 from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and the Dartmouth Forensic Union. In 1991, while a member of the Dartmouth Forensic Union, he reached the semi-final round of the National Debate Tournament, college's national championship tournament. and from Yale Law School in 1995.^{[citation needed]} At Yale, Katyal studied under Akhil Amar and Bruce Ackerman, with whom he published articles in law review and political opinion journals in 1995 and 1996. After graduating, Katyal clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and then Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Katyal served as National Security Adviser in the U.S. Justice Department in 1997-1999, and was commissioned by President Bill Clinton to write a report on the need for more legal pro bono work. He also served as Vice-President Al Gore's co-counsel in Bush v. Gore of 2000, and represented the deans of most major private law schools in Grutter v. Bollinger, the University of Michigan affirmative-action case that the Supreme Court decided in 2003.

He was named "Lawyer of the Year" by Lawyers USA for 2006, Runner Up for "Lawyer of the Year" by National Law Journal, one of the top 50 Litigators in the nation by the American Lawyer Magazine, one of the 30 best living Supreme Court advocates by Washingtonian Magazine, one of the 90 Greatest Lawyers over the Last 30 Years by Legal Times, and was awarded the 2004 Pro Bono Award by the National Law Journal.

He appeared on The Colbert Report on July 26, 2006 and June 17, 2008.^[3]

His brother-in-law is Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at George Washington University and legal affairs editor of The New Republic.

He is now a partner at the global law firm Hogan Lovells.

References

1. ^ Rajghatta, Chidanand (May 19, 2010). "PIO Neal Katyal poised to become US solicitor general". The Times of India. Times News Network. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/indians-abroad/PIO-Neal-Katyal-poised-to-become-US-solicitor-general/articleshow/5946962.cms. Retrieved December 9, 2010. 
2. ^ Law Prof Who Proposed US Court to Try Gitmo Detainees Gets DOJ Nod, ABA Journal, January 21, 2009.
3. ^ Colbert, Stephen (presenter) (June 17, 2008). Neal Katyal (Television production). Comedy Central. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/174081/june-17-2008/neal-katyal. Retrieved August 7, 2008. 

• NPR, Nina Totenberg's summary of Katyal's efforts, on 2006, September 5. 'Hamdan v. Rumsfeld': Path to a Landmark Ruling. [1]
• Georgetown University Law Center faculty profile, containing a link to his publications, awards and cases argued [2].
• Website maintained by Hamdan's defense team, including counsel profiles and briefs [3].
• Vanity Fair March 2007 profile about Katyal and Hamdan case [4]
• Legal Times July 31, 2006, Cover Story, "Katyal's Crusade: How an Overachieving Law Professor Toppled the President's Terror Tribunals" [5]
• Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, July 2006, Cover Story "A Patriot's Act" [6]

External links

Biography portal

• Official website
• Neal Katyal on the Internet Movie Database
• Georgetown University website

Legal offices
Preceded by Daryl Joseffer	Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States 2009–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Elena Kagan	Solicitor General of the United States Acting 2010–2011	Succeeded by Donald Verrilli

Persondata
Name	Katyal, Neal
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 12, 1970
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death