Neal Katyal

President Obama's former solicitor general Neal Katyal said on CNN that Obamacare "really functions like a tax":

CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin: “The politicians, President Obama said ‘this is not a tax increase.’ He said it over and over again during this debate. Now, the court upholds it as a tax. Do you think that contributes to people's cynicism about the law?”

Obama’s Former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal: “Well, I don't think so, because the constitutional question is after all, is it function like a tax? And what the Chief Justice said today is look, it quacks like a tax, it looks like a tax, it functions like a tax, it is a tax. Every American knows that, because if you don't pay the individual mandate, then on the 1040 tax bill, you have to check a box saying so. And so everyone knows that this really functions like a tax.”

Toobin: “So we ignore what the politicians say and the lawyers will figure it out.”

CNN’s John King: “You can be absolutely certain you won't hear that in anything from the Obama campaign. And you go to BarackObama.com, and you’re not going to see anything like that, that it is a tax.”

Toobin: “Well that’s why Neal is an honest guy.”

As the controversy heats up over the DOJ lawyers who once represented, or advocated on behalf of, al Qaeda and Taliban members, it is worth taking a quick look at their body of work.

Neal Katyal is now the principal deputy solicitor general. Previously, Katyal was a law professor and represented Salim Hamdan before the Supreme Court. The finding for Hamdan: The court ended up throwing out the military commission system as it was first established by President Bush. Congress then had to reauthorize the military commissions.