Just a quick post – more later. TikTok vs. Garland
A couple of snippets from the SCOTUSBlog live chat:
- “The Supreme Court upholds the TikTok ban.”
- “There is no doubt that . . . TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
- “For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.”
- “The judgment of the” D.C. Circuit “is affirmed.”
- Gorsuch: First is that the “Court rightly refrains from endorsing the government’s asserted interest in preventing the ‘covert manipulation of content’ as a justification for the law before us.”…”pleased” that “the Court declines to consider the classified evidence that the government has submitted to us but shielded from petitioners and their counsel.”…But whatever tier of scrutiny is used, he concludes, he agrees that the TikTok law “seeks to serve a compelling interest: preventing a foreign country, designated by Congress and the President as an adversary of our Nation, from harvesting vast troves of personal information“
PDF of the decision is at the bottom of this post. Two other non-decision issues came up from some of the commenters:
- Google and Apple may still not allow Tiktok in their stores due to potentialy liability risk.
- Biden said that he would not enforce the ban.
Given that he’s officially relieved of his duties in three days and that most of his officials have or are clearing out their desks, that is not a surprise.
Which dumps this into Trump’s lap and the last couple of weeks, he’s been on record that he likes TikTok to the point that he credits it, in part, for his election win. So what will he do?
So, do we have a Constitutional Crisis brewing? Lower court ruled a ban, SCOTUS affirms it – but the Executive Branch will just sit on its hands? How will the Judiciary enforce the law that bans TikTok?
SideNote: As in that famous quote by Stalin in response to the Pope asking him to stop oppressing Catholics in Russia:
“The Pope? How many divisions has he got?”
From another commenter:
Anyone else mildly concerned that the nebulous concept of “national security” is a magic phrase that can seemingly override the first amendment?
Good question. And remember that Lincoln, during the Civil War, revoked habeas corpus.
I don’t think this is over by a long shot.
And to close – the First Amendment gives everyone the Right to a soapbox. It DOESN’T give you the right to demand someone else’s.
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