By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-02 20:11:24 | Updated at 2025-01-05 02:50:30
2 days ago
US president-elect Donald Trump’s unusual request to the US Supreme Court that it halt a looming ban on TikTok until after he takes office has legal analysts questioning whether the court will consider or even acknowledge it.
Trump’s request last week came in the form of an amicus brief as the nation’s highest court prepares to consider the constitutionality of a law that requires ByteDance, the Chinese owner of the app, to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese buyer by January 19 or face its ban in the US.
The law asserts that TikTok, a short-video app with some 170 million users in the US, poses a national security risk because its personal data files can be shared with Chinese governmental agencies. The court agreed to take the case following an emergency appeal by TikTok on First Amendment free-speech grounds. Oral arguments are scheduled for January 10.
Trump is to take office on January 20, but in directly requesting a hold on any action, legal analysts said, he was asking the court to step beyond its constitutional role.
In the brief, drafted by John Sauer, Trump’s nominee for solicitor general, Trump is described as “the right constitutional actor to resolve the dispute through political means”.
It argues that only Trump possesses the “consummate deal-making expertise” necessary to broker a resolution that addresses both national security concerns and TikTok’s future.
