The Liberty Justice Center, alongside some TikTok creators, filed an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to halt the enforcement of a federal law that would ban TikTok in the United States on Jan. 19, 2025.
The emergency application requests that the Supreme Court temporarily block the ban while considering the petition challenging the law on First Amendment grounds. The petitioners argue that the ban would infringe upon the free speech of millions of Americans who use the platform for expression, business and information sharing.
“If it takes effect, the TikTok ban will shut down the speech of millions of Americans – including our clients’ speech on important political ideas and events. We urge the Supreme Court to take up this important First Amendment case and issue an immediate order halting the ban until it can issue a final decision,” said Jacob Huebert, president of the Liberty Justice Center. “Ultimately, the Court must make clear that the government cannot escape the First Amendment’s restrictions by simply saying the words ‘national security."”
The federal law in question, the Foreign Adversary Act, was signed by President Joe Biden in April 2024. The law prohibits U.S. users from accessing or updating apps owned by foreign adversaries that explicitly includes TikTok. The law mandates that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, sell the company by Jan. 19, 2025, or face the nationwide ban.
On Dec. 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the ban, stating that TikTok poses a national threat.
In response, the Liberty Justice Center and associated TikTok creators filed an emergency petition urging the Supreme Court to intervene.
As previously reported by The Center Square, they argue that the ban will irreparably damage its client, BASED Politics, a nonprofit that uses several social media platforms, including TikTok, by silencing political speech, particularly around the time of the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.
President-elect Donald Trump, who used his own platform ahead of the election, said, “If you like TikTok, go out and vote for Trump.” Trump reportedly met with the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday.
At a news conference on Monday, Trump said, “We’ll take a look at TikTok. I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points.”
The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision to either grant the injunction or not will have implications for the future of TikTok and its U.S. users while highlighting the broader debate over the balance between national security and free speech rights.
