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"Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The Juxtaposition of the U.S. Constitution, International Law and National Security," a lecture by Neal Katyal

Neal Katyal is a professor at Georgetown University Law School and was most recently recognized for his role as lead attorney in the landmark Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. 

His Hyatt Fund Lecture at Vanderbilt Law School Feb. 26 is co-sponsored by the South Asian Law Students Association, the Muslim Law Students Association, the International Law Society, the American Constitutional Society,  the Vanderbilt Center for Ethics and the VU Muslim Students Association

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld challenged the military tribunals set up by President Bush to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Court ruled 5-3 that the military commissions violated military and international law. The National Law Journal wrote that the case “has been described by one constitutional law scholar as ‘perhaps the most important separation-of-powers decision ever.’” The Journal goes on to say, "For Katyal, who made his first high court appearance in Hamdan, the decision was the pinnacle of an extraordinary odyssey that has taken him from the classroom to Guantanamo Bay to the federal courts to the halls of Congress to the U.S. Supreme Court and back as the government now seeks to apply a new military commission law to the federal court cases of Hamdan and other detainees.”

In 2000, Professor Katyal served as co-counsel for Vice President Al Gore in the U.S. Supreme Court election case Bush v. Palm Beach Canvassing Board, which challenged the Florida voting system. Before becoming a professor at Georgetown in 1997, he was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer and for Judge Guido Calabresi of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1998-99, Professor Katyal served as National Security Adviser to the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice. He was commissioned by President Clinton in 1999 to co-author a report on the ways the legal profession can enhance its pro bono activities and diversify the bar. In 2004, the National Law Journal awarded him their annual pro bono award in recognition of his work.

In 2005, Professor Katyal was named one of the "Top Lawyers Under 40" by the National Law Journal because of his extraordinary achievements in the legal profession, including his involvement on some of the most significant cases of the decade.