President-elect Donald Trump requested the Supreme Court docket on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into impact till his administration can pursue a “political decision” to the problem.
The request got here as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court docket, through which the corporate argued the court docket ought to strike down a regulation that might ban the platform by Jan. 19 whereas the federal government emphasised its place that the statute is required to eradicate a nationwide safety danger.
“President Trump takes no place on the underlying deserves of this dispute. As a substitute, he respectfully requests that the Court docket think about staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, whereas it considers the deserves of this case,” stated Trump’s amicus temporary, which supported neither occasion within the case and was written by D. John Sauer, Trump’s alternative for solicitor normal.
The argument submitted to the court docket is the newest instance of Trump inserting himself in nationwide points earlier than he takes workplace. The Republican president-elect has already begun negotiating with different international locations over his plans to impose tariffs, and he intervened earlier this month in a plan to fund the federal authorities, calling for a bipartisan plan to be rejected and sending Republicans again to the negotiating desk.
He has been holding conferences with international leaders and enterprise officers at his Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida whereas he assembles his administration, together with a gathering final week with TikTok CEO Shou Chew.
Trump has reversed his place on the favored app, having tried to ban it throughout his first time period in workplace over nationwide safety issues. He joined the TikTok throughout his 2024 presidential marketing campaign and his crew used it to attach with youthful voters, particularly male voters, by pushing content material that was typically macho and aimed toward going viral.
He stated earlier this yr that he nonetheless believed there have been nationwide safety dangers with TikTok, however that he opposed banning it.
The filings Friday come forward of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether or not the regulation, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based mother or father firm or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Modification. The regulation was was signed by President Joe Biden in April after it handed Congress with broad bipartisan assist. TikTok and ByteDance filed a authorized problem afterwards.
Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute, main TikTok to attraction the case to the Supreme Court docket.
The temporary from Trump stated he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the flexibility to resolve the problems at hand by political means as soon as he takes workplace.”
Of their temporary to the Supreme Court docket on Friday, attorneys for TikTok and its mother or father firm ByteDance argued the federal appeals court docket erred in its ruling and primarily based its determination on “alleged ‘dangers’ that China may train management” over TikTok’s U.S. platform by pressuring its international associates.
The Biden administration has argued in court docket that TikTok poses a nationwide safety danger on account of its connections to China. Officers say Chinese language authorities can compel ByteDance handy over data on TikTok’s U.S. patrons or use the platform to unfold or suppress data.
However the authorities “concedes that it has no proof China has ever tried to take action,” TikTok’s authorized submitting stated, including that the U.S. fears are predicated on future dangers.
In its submitting Friday, the Biden administration stated as a result of TikTok “is built-in with ByteDance and depends on its propriety engine developed and maintained in China,” its company construction carries with it danger.
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