Attorneys general from VA, MT ask SCOTUS to uphold TikTok ban

The Republican attorneys general of Virginia and Montana are asking the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold a legislative ban on TikTok initiated by the Biden administration that received bipartisan support in Congress. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen filed an amicus brief with the court towards that end – conflicting with one filed by President-elect Donald Trump, who asked the Supreme Court to put a pause on the ban.

The court agreed on Dec. 18 to listen to TikTok’s arguments that the ban constitutes a violation of the First Amendment guaranteeing free speech. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a company that is linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and critics say Chinese officials could force TikTok to reveal any data wanted by the government on the grounds of national security. Miyares said ByteDance has already provided the CCP with its data requests, Fox News reported.

"Allowing TikTok to operate in the United States without severing its ties to the Chinese Communist Party exposes Americans to the undeniable risks of having their data accessed and exploited by the Chinese Communist Party," Miyares said in a statement. "Virginians deserve a government that stands firm in protecting their privacy and security.

"The Supreme Court now has the chance to affirm Congress’s authority to protect Americans from foreign threats while ensuring that the First Amendment doesn’t become a tool to defend foreign adversaries’ exploitative practices."

Trump's submission to the Supreme Court indicated that he was "supporting neither party" but insisted as the incoming president he withholds the right to decide TikTok’s status in the United States. Steven Cheung, Trump's future White House communications director, told Fox that Trump’s assessment of TikTok vis-a-vis the American public would "preserve American national security."

"[The brief asked] 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 Jan. 20, 2025," Cheung said.

Trump’s submission to the court says he "has a unique interest in the First Amendment issues raised in this case" and that the argument over TikTok’s continued use as a social media platform under a Chinese parent corporation "presents an unprecedented, novel, and difficult tension between free-speech rights on one side, and foreign policy and national-security concerns on the other."

"As the incoming Chief Executive, President Trump has a particularly powerful interest in and responsibility for those national-security and foreign-policy questions, and he is the right constitutional actor to resolve the dispute through political means," the brief stated.