The Unprecedented Dynamics of Trump's TikTok Brief

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

69% : Further, President Trump is the founder of another resoundingly successful social-media platform, Truth Social.
67% : But Trump has made public statements indicating that he may be more supportive of TikTok.
62% : For example, the brief states: Moreover, President Trump is one of the most powerful, prolific, and influential users of social media in history.
61% : Consistent with his commanding presence in this area, President Trump currently has 14.7 million followers on TikTok with whom he actively communicates, allowing him to evaluate TikTok's importance as a unique medium for freedom of expression, including core political speech.
59% : President Trump, therefore, has a compelling interest as the incoming embodiment of the Executive Branch in seeing the statutory deadline stayed to allow his incoming Administration the opportunity to seek a negotiated resolution of these questions.
58% : Trump, by contrast, is perhaps the most significant person to have ever used social media.
56% : 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.
55% : On January 20, 2025, President Trump will assume responsibility for the United States' national security, foreign policy, and other vital executive functions.
53% : Perhaps this sort of brief is consistent with the broad role that Trump is already playing over our polity.
53% : Georgia v. United States, 411 U.S. 526, 541, 93 S.Ct. 1702, 1711, 36 L.Ed.2d 472 (1973); Fortson v. Morris, 385 U.S. 231, 235, 87 S.Ct. 446, 449, 17 L.Ed.2d 330 (1966); Maryland Committee for Fair Representation v. Tawes, 377 U.S. 656, 675-676, 84 S.Ct.
51% : Justice Alito referenced the stay from Norther Pipeline in King v. Burwell, as a way to give Congress the power to adjust the Affordable Care Act subsidies.
48% : First, why did Trump even file a brief here?
48% : President Trump is keenly aware of the historic dangers presented by such a precedent.
46% : Second, Trump is asserting his inchoate interest in setting national policy: In light of these interests -- including, most importantly, his overarching responsibility for the United States' national security and foreign policy -- President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture, and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office. . . .
45% : Furthermore, President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government -- concerns which President Trump himself has acknowledged.
44% : The 270-day deadline imposed by the Act expires on January 19, 2025 -- one day before President Trump will assume Office as the 47th President of the United States.
44% : And, low and behold, Trump expanded exemptions from the contraception mandate, which led to Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania (2020).
43% : Third, Trump is not relying on law here, but on his deal-making powers.
41% : In this situation, it might make sense for Trump to appear as an amicus.
41% : Would it be set for a certain number of days--to give Trump a negotiating window?
39% : Last week, Will Baude and Richard Re suggested that Trump should file an amicus brief in the case, and perhaps the Court could even call for his views: The statute effectively banning TikTok goes into effect on January 19, the day before President-Elect Donald Trump is slated to begin his second presidential term.
35% : Foreign leaders are now visiting with Trump at Mar-A-Lago to discuss policy concerns.
35% : Trump, more than perhaps anyone else, can speak to what happens when access is lost to a social media platform.
34% : In short, Trump wants the Court to leave the law in effect, at least till he takes office, so he can negotiate a better deal.
31% : Indeed, President Trump and his rival both used TikTok to connect with voters during the recent Presidential election campaign, with President Trump doing so much more effectively.
28% : But if it looks like Trump can actually negotiate some sort of deal, the issue comes off the Court's plate.
26% : *** After nearly a decade, I think people still do not understand Trump.
23% : But this statute contains an express provision to allow a compromise to be reached--and Trump is trying to reach it.
22% : Trump may be the de facto President at this point.
16% : Little did they know that it would be Trump, and not Hillary Clinton.
11% : I for one am grateful that Will describes Trump as "president-elect," notwithstanding my colleague's views that Trump has been disqualified from the presidency since January 6, 2021.

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