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The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether a ban on the controversial social media app TikTok violates the First Amendment, putting the key case of the term on the eve of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Added to case file.
The high court agreed to expedite the case and hear arguments on January 10.
In TikTok’s appeal to the Supreme Court, the justices cited Congress, which cited national security concerns over China’s control of the app, and the platform’s users and executives, who argued the ban violated the First Amendment. He became embroiled in a high-profile dispute between the two.
Congress passed the ban with bipartisan support earlier this year, and President Joe Biden signed it into law in April. The law was enacted in response to long-standing concerns in Washington that TikTok’s Chinese parent company posed a national security risk, but Congress wanted to separate it from Chinese ownership so that the app would remain in the United States. It is said that it can be operated by
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., unanimously upheld the ban, ruling that the government has a national security interest in regulating the platform in the United States.
Underscoring the importance of this case over the fate of TikTok, the court’s response to the social media company’s appeal was unusual and unusually swift.
Even in emergency cases, in most cases the court will consider written briefs from both sides before deciding whether to hear arguments from the regular docket. In this case, the government agreed to skip that process and immediately hear the appeal.
In announcing that it would hear arguments over the law’s constitutionality, the court also said it would defer consideration of whether to temporarily block the ban until the day of oral arguments, and that the justices had decided days before the law went into effect that it would postpone consideration of whether to temporarily block the ban. He indicated that he may decide on the case. It is scheduled to come into effect on January 19th.
The appeal was entered on the high court’s emergency docket days after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously denied the company’s request for a temporary stay of the law.
Mr. Trump’s re-election will depend heavily on the legal battle, as Mr. Trump has expressed inconsistent views in the past but has recently appeared to be warming to his platform. President Trump will take office on January 20, the day after the law goes into effect.
President Trump met with TikTok CEO Shaw Chu at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, a person familiar with the meeting told CNN. Hours earlier, the president-elect hinted at a news conference that he may take a softer approach to the platform.
“You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok, because I won young people by 34 points,” Trump said at his first post-election press conference. Some people say they do,” he said. (Trump lost to Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points among voters aged 18 to 29, according to CNN’s 2024 exit poll.)
President Trump’s comments have also caught the attention of TikTok’s lawyers, who argued in an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court earlier this week that blocking the law from taking effect would “give the incoming administration time to decide on its position as president.” “It is appropriate,” he said. -The president-elect and his advisors have expressed support for preserving the app.
The law allows the president to extend the Jan. 19 deadline only once. But President Trump will take office the day after the ban goes into effect, so his options appear to be more limited.
TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance previously indicated it would not sell the platform.
The ban was widely expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court, given the new legal questions raised about how broad the First Amendment’s protections are.
In a Dec. 6 ruling, the D.C. Circuit ruled that the law does not violate the Constitution and that it meets the legal standard known as strict scrutiny that must be met for any government regulation of speech to pass. handed down a judgment.
“This law was the culmination of extensive bipartisan action by Congress and past presidents. This ruling was carefully crafted to address only domination by a foreign enemy, and the (People’s Republic of China) “It was part of a broader effort to counter the well-founded national security threat posed by the United States,” the ruling said. “Under these circumstances, the provisions of the law before us can withstand the strictest scrutiny.”
The high court has set aside two hours for arguments on the issue next month, but judges could spend even more time scrutinizing the law during hearings.
In addition to hearing arguments from lawyers for TikTok and the government, the court will also hear arguments from lawyers for the app’s users who are challenging the ban. The group includes eight individuals who use TikTok and BASED Politics, Inc., a nonprofit organization that uses the app to promote libertarian politics.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly delved into social media and First Amendment disputes in recent years, including in June when a majority of the court ruled that platforms have at least some protection under the First Amendment. It also includes important judgments that show the belief that the
CNN’s Caitlan Collins, Claire Duffy and Brian Huang contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
