Trump asks Supreme Court to block TikTok ban as he considers ‘political resolution’

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to block a federal law’s imminent ban on TikTok in the United States if the popular app’s Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it by next month’s deadline. In a filing with the Supreme Court on December 27, Trump’s attorney D. John Sauer — who is also Trump’s nominee for U.S. solicitor general — said the president-elect doesn’t take any position on the challenge, but he is asking the justices to pause the law to allow his incoming administration “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.” A federal appeals court this month turned down TikTok’s challenge of a quickly approaching forced sale or nationwide ban, teeing up the Supreme Court challenge. TikTok argued that the ban infringes on its users’ First Amendment protections, but a three-judge appellate panel agreed that the government “offered persuasive evidence” that a law passed by Congress to potentially ban the app is “narrowly tailored to protect national security.” President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act into law earlier this year after bipartisan passage in Congress, which set a deadline of January 19 — one day before Trump’s inauguration — for ByteDance to divest from the platform to an American company, or face a ban. TikTok said in a statement this month that the ban was jammed through Congress using “flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.” open image in gallery Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago this month that he has a ‘soft spot’ for the immensely popular app he once tried to ban during his first stint in office On the campaign trail, Trump appeared to change his tune around the app, which he had previously supported banning.