Trump Seeks to Postpone TikTok Ban by Supreme Court
In a significant turn of events, President-elect Donald Trump has requested the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the enforcement of the TikTok ban by the Biden administration. The request, made by John Sauer, Trump's pick for solicitor general, was submitted shortly after attorneys for TikTok and the federal Department of Justice submitted opposing briefs to the court.
Sauer's brief argues against a slippery slope towards social media censorship, stating that a nationwide shutdown of TikTok could set a chilling precedent for free speech. He expressed concern about a potential precedent for global government censorship of social media speech.
Trump's brief attempts to cast him as someone who has the expertise, mandate, and political will to negotiate a resolution to save TikTok while addressing national security concerns. According to the brief, President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture.
Sauer's brief also urges the justices to exercise extreme care in banning a social media platform with over 100 million users. He compared the deference shown by lower courts to the well-documented history of federal officials' involvement in social media censorship efforts affecting tens of millions of Americans.
However, as of mid-August 2025, the Supreme Court already heard oral arguments on the TikTok ban on January 10, 2025, and seemed inclined to uphold the law banning TikTok. The Court did not issue a stay to halt the ban while it considered the case. TikTok indicated it would shut down services for American users immediately if the ban was enforced, which was set for January 19, 2025.
It is worth noting that there is no evidence from the available data that Sauer has presented new arguments recently in a current Supreme Court filing related to the TikTok ban or the stay request. The bulk of the legal challenges, historically, involved TikTok and its technical managers filing lawsuits against the Trump administration’s ban orders arguing constitutional violations such as due process and unlawful taking under the Fifth Amendment, as well as claims of anti-China bias and retaliation. The Department of Justice countered these claims, asserting national security justifications and nonjusticiability of the executive order.
In summary, the Supreme Court heard arguments and appeared ready to uphold the TikTok ban without granting a stay as of early 2025. TikTok was prepared to shut down U.S. operations if banned, and Trump’s lawyers have not publicly made new arguments on a stay recently at the Supreme Court level. Previously, legal arguments against the ban included constitutional and procedural protections, while the government emphasized national security.
- As war-and-conflicts between global leaders continue, the ongoing battle over TikTok's ban in the U.S. highlights the integration of politics and policy-and-legislation, with President-elect Donald Trump's request to the Supreme Court aimed at preventing the enforcement of the TikTok ban by the Biden administration.
- The general-news landscape explores the potential implications of social media censorship, as Sauer's brief argues against a slippery slope towards social media censorship, expressing concern about a potential precedent for global government censorship of social media speech.
