"The Solicitor General: From the Japanese-American Internment to Health Care" on May 7th at 4:30 PM

In America’s system of checks and balances, the Supreme Court stands as the final judge of Congressional and Presidential actions; their rulings serve to direct American society and legislation. Instrumental in influencing the Court’s decision is the Solicitor General, the President’s highest legal representative in America’s highest court.

Georgetown Law School Professor Neal Katyal, boasting several Supreme Court victories of his own as Acting Solicitor General, has examined the integral role of the Solicitor General in defending the constitutionality of government interests in the Supreme Court. Professor Katyal will discuss the Solicitor General’s role in some of America’s landmark cases, from Japanese-American Internment during World War II, to the current constitutional battle be waged over health care.

Neal Katyal, the Paul Saunders Professor at Georgetown University, focuses on Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and Intellectual Property. He has served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States, where he argued several major Supreme Court cases involving a variety of issues, such as his successful defense of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Most notably, Katyal victoriously handled the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld Supreme Court case, a case that challenged the policy of military trials at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba; the outcome had far-reaching implications for presidential power in military affairs. He attended Dartmouth College and Yale Law School.