Neal Katyal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Neal Kumar Katyal is the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law School and was the lead counsel 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."
Katyal was born in America to immigrant parents. His mother is a pediatrician and his father 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 but studied at Loyola Academy, a Jesuit Catholic school in Wilmette, Illinois. He attended Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity, and Yale Law School. At Yale, Katyal studied under professor Akhil Amar and Professor 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, and then Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
Katyal served as National Security Adviser in the U.S. Justice Department and was commissioned by President 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.
While working as lead counsel on Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, he accumulated nearly US$40,000 of personal debt for travel and other expenses.
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, and was awarded the 2004 Pro Bono Award by the National Law Journal. He has been awarded a variety of other awards from around the globe.
He appeared onThe Colbert Report on July 26, 2006.
His brother-in-law is Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at George Washington University and legal affairs editor of The New Republic.
[edit] References
- NPR, Nina Totenberg's summary of Katyals'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]
