Trump urges the Supreme Court to pause the TikTok ban

President-elect Donald Trump requested the Supreme Court on Friday to postpone the enforcement of a legislation that would prohibit TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 if the software is not supplied by its Chinese parent firm.

The court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on January 10.

Trump's request for a delay in applying the ban puts him at odds with the Biden administration, which supported the statute in its own brief Friday, citing "grave" national security concerns about TikTok's ongoing existence in the United States.

“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” wrote D. John Sauer, Trump’s lawyer who is also the president-elect’s pick for U.S. solicitor general. “Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case, thus permitting President Trump’s incoming Administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”

The bill would force ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, to sell the site to an American firm or risk a ban.

Trump, who attempted to ban TikTok in 2020 but was prevented by the courts, hinted in Friday's court filing that he may negotiate a political solution to the issue before the court rules.

Trump previously met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in December, only hours after expressing a "warm spot" for the app, reversing his disapproval to it four years earlier.

The Justice Department and TikTok both filed briefs in the matter on Friday, mostly repeating points they made before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

That court maintained the rule, ruling that the government's national security arguments for banning the app, including worries that the Chinese government may obtain data about American users and control app content, were valid.

Chinese authorities have continually dismissed the claim that TikTok poses a danger to US national security.

In a court brief on Friday, the Justice Department supported the rule, citing national security worries about the Chinese government's ability to influence the firm.

TikTok, meanwhile, contested the measure, claiming in its brief that prohibiting the app would violate free expression rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.