Neal Katyal Runs a Legal SWAT Team to Protect the Constitution

Minutes after President Trump issued his 2017 executive order restricting travel from seven majority-Muslim countries, veteran attorney Neal Katyal was on the phone. By the next morning, some of the world’s biggest companies, including Apple, Netflix, and Facebook, had signed on to Katyal’s amicus brief opposing the ban.

That striking reversal—Silicon Valley has a long habit of political insouciance—will culminate at the Supreme Court on April 25, when Katyal argues against the administration in the case Trump v. Hawaii. He’ll be on familiar ground when he enters the famed wood-paneled chamber. The acting solicitor general from 2010 to 2011, he argued seven cases in front of the court last year—more than any other attorney in the country—and broke the record for cases argued by a minority attorney, previously held by Thurgood Marshall.