US President-elect Donald Trump attends Turning Point USA’s America Fest on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
Cheney Orr | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday asked the Supreme Court to suspend enforcement of a law banning TikTok in the United States on January 19 if its Chinese parent company does not sell the app.
The court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on January 10.
“President Trump has not taken a position on the fundamental merits of this controversy,” wrote D. John Sauer, Trump’s lawyer and the president-elect’s nominee for U.S. attorney general. “Instead, we respectfully ask the court to consider preserving the January 19, 2025 sale deadline while considering the merits of this case, giving the incoming Trump administration an opportunity to pursue a political resolution to the issue. “We request that you give us “that case.” ”
The law at the center of the case is the Protecting Americans from Regulatory Applications by Foreign Adversaries Act, a bipartisan bill passed by Congress and then signed into law by President Joe Biden in April. be.
The law would require TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the platform to a U.S. company or face a ban.
Earlier this month, the court decided to hear the case and hastily rescheduled arguments and oral arguments. However, the court ignored TikTok’s request to suspend implementation of the ban, leaving it with just nine days after oral arguments to issue an opinion or block the law indefinitely.
President Trump, who tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but was blocked by the courts, said in a court filing Friday that he may negotiate a political solution to the issue before the court rules. he suggested.
“Only President Trump has the impeccable deal-making expertise, electoral authority, and resolution to preserve the platform while addressing the government’s stated national security concerns (concerns that President Trump himself has acknowledged)” We have the political will to negotiate a plan,” Sauer wrote.
President Trump previously spoke with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in December, hours after Trump expressed that he had a “warm spot” for the app, saying 4 This is a complete change from the opposing stance taken a year ago.
The Justice Department and TikTok also filed briefs on Friday that primarily restate arguments made in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.
The court upheld the law, saying the government’s national security justification for banning the app, including concerns that the Chinese government could access data about U.S. users and manipulate content on the app, I concluded that it was valid.
Chinese government officials have consistently denied claims that TikTok is a threat to U.S. national security.
The Justice Department defended the law in a court filing Friday, citing national security concerns that the Chinese government could influence the company.
TikTok, on the other hand, opposed the law, saying in a brief that banning the app would violate its free speech rights, which are protected by the First Amendment.
