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President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to delay a law that would effectively ban TikTok from taking effect until after he assumes office.
Trump lawyer John Sauer, who is the solicitor general designee for the incoming administration, petitioned the high court to postpone its hearing on the TikTok ban, arguing that the matter could be redressed “through political means” instead.
“President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns,” Sauer wrote.
“In light of these interests — including, most importantly, his overarching responsibility for the United States’ national security and foreign policy — President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture, and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”
The Chinese firm ByteDance had been ordered to divest TikTok or face an outright ban in the US pursuant to a law signed by President Biden earlier this year.
The ban is slated to take effect on Jan. 19 — one day before Trump, 78, takes his oath of office.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court agreed to hear and fast-track a case filed by TikTok challenging the law.
Lawyers for the social media platform argue that the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act violates TikTok’s free speech rights under the First Amendment.
“We believe the Court will find the TikTok ban unconstitutional so the over 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights,” a company spokesman said in a statement last week.
The Supreme Court will also consider a separate bid by a group of TikTok users seeking to block the ban.
In his friend-of-the-court brief, Sauer noted that Trump “is one of the most powerful, prolific, and influential users of social media in history,” touting the president-elect’s 14.7 million followers on TikTok.
Sauer indicated that Trump views the platform as a “unique medium for freedom of expression, including core political speech.”
“Further, President Trump is the founder of another resoundingly successful social-media platform, Truth Social,” Sauer continued. “This gives him an in-depth perspective on the extraordinary government power attempted to be exercised in this case — the power of the federal government to effectively shut down a social-media platform favored by tens of millions of Americans, based in large part on concerns about disfavored content on that platform.”
The incoming solicitor general added that Trump ”is keenly aware of the historic dangers presented by such a precedent.”
Trump, who led the original push to ban TikTok during his first term, reversed course on the campaign trail, pledging to “save TikTok” if elected.
At a press conference last week Trump noted that he has a “warm spot in my heart” for TikTok and would “take a look” at the situation.
Soon after, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Court to extend the deadline that would cause TikTok’s imminent shutdown, and allow President Trump the opportunity to resolve the issue in a way that saves TikTok and preserves American national security once he resumes office as President of the United States on January 20, 2025,” Trump-Vance transition spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
