Filing: Trump asks SCOTUS to pause the law that could ban TikTok, saying the court should give him time to “pursue a political resolution” of the dispute

- Biden administration says Chinese control of app is threat — TikTok says law infringes rights of 170 million Americans

Bloomberg 2024-12-29 Greg Stohr

Context & Ripple Effects

TikTok had already sought a judicial hold on the sale-or-ban measure while Supreme Court review and the incoming administration's position played out. ByteDance then separately asked the Court to block the law ahead of its January deadline, putting the company, the administration and the Court on overlapping tracks.

Trump's request adds a political off-ramp to that litigation sequence: the later 75-day executive pause shows the same effort to create negotiating room rather than let the statutory timetable alone determine TikTok's status.

First-order effects

The filing asks SCOTUS to preserve TikTok's availability while Trump pursues a resolution, rather than immediately deciding the dispute solely on the law's scheduled timetable.
TikTok, ByteDance and the app's U.S. users remain directly exposed to the Court's decision; the Biden administration's national-security rationale and TikTok's rights-based challenge stay in contention.

Second-order effects

If a pause is granted, the immediate pressure shifts from implementing a sale-or-ban mandate to negotiating terms for a political resolution, extending uncertainty for TikTok and parties tied to its U.S. operation.
The request reinforces ByteDance's earlier bid to block the law before its deadline, making the Supreme Court process a central lever for both the company and the incoming administration.

Third-order effects

The case suggests that platform governance disputes involving foreign control may be settled through a combination of statutory leverage, court stays and executive negotiation—not a clean judicial ruling alone.
If that pattern persists, app availability and data-governance rules could become more contingent on changing administrations, increasing the value of clear statutory implementation and judicial boundaries.

The trend: TikTok is becoming a test case for using divestiture-or-ban laws to manage perceived foreign-control and data-security risks in consumer platforms.

Discussion

@dcote5 David C on bluesky
It's a law passed by Congress lol. If Congress wants to pause it, let them, don't see how scotus has anything to do with anything unless the law is unconstitutional which it isnt
@mjsdc Mark Joseph Stern on bluesky
A brand new principle of constitutional law, unfolding before our eyes: It is unconstitutional (!) for Congress to enact a law that happens to take effect one day before the next president is inaugurated, at least if he's named Trump. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/ 24... [image…
@mjsdc Mark Joseph Stern on bluesky
Trump's TikTok brief just fundamentally doesn't make sense: How could SCOTUS freeze the Jan. 19 deadline on the grounds that Trump might ... unlawfully suspend it when he gets into office? Rewrite the law now so Trump can break it later? The ask here is incoherent. www.supremec…
@mikeisaac Rat King on bluesky
well at least all the lawyers got three years of billable hours — www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/u... [image]
@bobbyallyn Bobby Allyn on bluesky
I called up @stevevladeck.bsky.social for reflections on Trump's TikTok brief: — “What's stunning about it is it cites no legal authority and acts as if he's already president,” he said. “It's a nakedly political law-free brief.”
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on bluesky
Donald Trump filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to block a TikTok ban as he pursues a political resolution. — As Truth Social's founder, he warns of the dangers of government censorship of social media. — The Biden administration has handed an early win to Trump. …
@chrisgeidner Chris Geidner on bluesky
The Trump amicus brief in the TikTok case is wild, not the least of which is because it explicitly is premised on “I'll be president soon” and because the brief — full of puffery (at best) — is authored by his choice for solicitor general, D. John Sauer. www.supremecourt.gov/Dock…
@jeremyz @jeremyz on bluesky
the democrats handing saving tiktok to trump is one of the more embarrassing unforced errors of the biden regime. [embedded post]
@zachsdorfman Zach Dorfman on bluesky
It's funny; I remember passionate arguments by Trump 1.0 admin officials that TikTok was a major threat to national security, and how secret intelligence—which could not be shared with the public—proved their case even more damningly. [embedded post]
@jameeljaffer Jameel Jaffer on bluesky
The brief that Trump just filed in the TikTok case is worth reading. It will certainly get read by the Justices. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/ 24... [image]
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on bluesky
Trump asks SCOTUS to delay the effective date of the TikTok ban because he's “one of the most powerful, prolific, and influential users of social media in history” and also he “possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise...& political will to negotiate a resolution to save the …
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on threads
I can't believe it's only Day Negative 23 of the new Trump administration.
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on threads
Checks (books) and (bank) balances.
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Flashback: [image]
@jeffjarvis @jeffjarvis on x
The Trump TikTok brief is a laughable and pornographic exercise in imperial fluffing. The emperor has no clothes < The president has no ego. (But I want TikTok to stay.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/ ... [image]
@michaelsobolik Michael Sobolik on x
Notable, primarily for the following reason: up until today, Trump had walked a fine line between advocating for TikTok, while also avoiding outright opposition to the law. Today, he came out against the statute.
@jimsciutto Jim Sciutto on x
So last night I'm told on the air that China is such a threat Trump may take back the Panama Canal and tonight Trump says that TikTok - which bipartisan legislation and the intel community deem a threat - doesn't need to be banned. What explains the contradiction?
@markwarner Mark Warner on x
Interesting turn of events: Trump called TikTok a national security risk, but now he's asking for a stay on a congressionally-passed ban. 🤔
@adamkovac Adam Kovacevich on x
Despite the breathless reporting on Trump's brief, it feels utterly irrelevant. SCOTUS already bypassed the opportunity to enjoin the TikTok law past 1/19, and it is very likely to uphold the DC Circuit's ruling. This brief is political payback for TT, not a real strategy.
@anupamchander Anupam Chander on x
3. We would never say that if we shutter a newspaper, you can simply buy a different one. We shouldn't say that you can simply move to Reels or YouTube, either. 3/ [image]
@anupamchander Anupam Chander on x
Some quotes from our First Amendment and Internet Law Professor's TikTok amicus: 1. The Act amounts to a massive suppression of speech—literally losing huge amounts of speech posted by users, or their curated libraries of speech. [image]
@anupamchander Anupam Chander on x
2. The global exchange of ideas would be imperiled by either a divestiture or a ban. [image]
@mikesacksesq Mike Sacks on x
Trump's incoming Solicitor General asking SCOTUS to milk his win in the immunity case to make more Law of Trump https://www.supremecourt.gov/ ... [image]
@kaitlancollins Kaitlan Collins on x
News — I'm told Trump spoke with TikTok CEO Shou Chew tonight after the incoming president asked the Supreme Court to pause a ban on TikTok set to go into effect the day before he takes office. The two men met in person at Mar-a-Lago about two weeks ago. https://www.cnn.com/...
@repmtg Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on x
I'm proud to have voted against the Tik Tok ban bill. Free Speech must be protected and there are smarter ways to reign in China. President Trump is starting that process.
@tysonbrody Tyson Brody on x
the question is whether they sell to elon or ellison
@derektmuller Derek T. Muller on x
The notion that some private citizen is asking the Court to suspend the deadline set by Congress in a statute is absurd. You take office January 20. Sorry if things happen January 19 you don't like.
@rushdoshi Rush Doshi on x
Getting harder to argue that Trump 2.0 will get China right if the opening play is to let TikTok operate as usual. Maybe there will be a real debate on this and the new team ends up where Biden and bipartisan Congressional majorities did. Or maybe not... [image]
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
new season of the apprentice just dropped https://www.theverge.com/...
@pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x
Trump wanted a ban of TikTok in 2020. Jeffrey Yass, whose Susquehanna fund owns 15% of the company, donated $96M to R's this election cycle Unsurprisingly, Trump now opposes the ban. [image]
@luke_metro @luke_metro on x
tech right mogged by the quant right you hate to see it
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
filing injunctive relief for the Supreme Court to recognize me as a born poster [image]
@scottadamssays Scott Adams on x
Finding a conservative buyer would be the greatest win of all time.
@alaynatreene Alayna Treene on x
The pause would allow his admin “to pursue a negotiated resolution that could prevent a nationwide shutdown of TikTok, thus preserving the First Amendment rights of tens of millions of Americans, while also addressing the government's national security concerns” Trump wrote
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
I like how Trump treats the Supreme Court like they work for him. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@stokel Chris Stokel-Walker on x
This is a wild switch given four years ago Trump was campaigning to ban TikTok
@jacobhuebert Jacob Huebert on x
Although Trump's brief says it's “in support of neither party,” he makes clear that he opposed the TikTok ban and still does: [image]
@dnlbrns Daniel Barnes on x
Trump says he alone can save TikTok from being banned in the US and urges SCOTUS to issue a stay to give him time to negotiate a deal. Doesn't get into specifics, but overturning the ban law could require action from Congress. Brief: https://www.supremecourt.gov/ ... [image]
@anupamchander Anupam Chander on x
Incoming President Trump filed an amicus in the TikTok case seeking a delay in the operation of the law to give him time to resolve the matter, utilizing his “consummate dealmaking expertise”! https://www.supremecourt.gov/ ...
@stevesosnick Steve Sosnick on x
@sonalibasak Jeff Yass getting something for his ~$100mm in political contributions https://washingtonpost.com/......
@jamesrbuk James Ball on x
The US controls every other major platform, and US intelligence exploits that advantage globally - Snowden's NSA revelations showed that. Is the US unwilling to put up with even one platform it doesn't run, as it asks every other country to put up with controlling none?
@jamesrbuk James Ball on x
Honestly, I think Trump has presented a good challenge to US securocrats on TikTok here. If TikTok is doing something so different and so dangerous, why not declassify the evidence and get it banned? Instead of keeping it secret and risking the whole thing.
@jamesrbuk James Ball on x
The way it escapes looking hypocritical is claiming it has classified material that shows TikTok is way worse than everyone else. But if it wants the world to believe that - if it wants Americans to believe that - show us the receipts.
@luke_metro @luke_metro on x
Somebody send the tech right to mar-a-lago stat [image]
@sonalibasak Sonali Basak on x
*TRUMP URGES SUPREME COURT TO PAUSE LAW THREATENING TIKTOK BAN This comes HOURS after Biden's Justice Department filed its main brief to the Supreme Court on the TikTok ban and the company filed its counter. Unless blocked, the law would take effect on Jan. 19
@rmfifthcircuit Raffi Melkonian on x
Heh. An amicus brief from the president elect from the solicitor general elect(?) designate(?)
@yashar Yashar Ali on x
NEWS President-elect Trump has filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the TikTok matter. He has asked the court to issue a stay. If the court doesn't issue a stay and TikTok's parent company fails to find a buyer, TikTok will be banned in the United States starting on …

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