The Donald Trump-friendly U.S. Supreme Court may be ready to buck him, an ex-prosecutor said.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance on Sunday flagged a recent legal filing from Trump's attorneys.
"Meanwhile, as the date for the TikTok ban in the U.S., January 19, draws closer, Donald Trump was among a number of litigants filing Amicus briefs with the Supreme Court last week," Vance wrote this weekend. "His was a little bit different than the others. It wasn’t about the law. Or even about the facts. Instead, it was about…Donald Trump."
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"President Trump is one of the most powerful, prolific, and influential users of social media in history. 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," the brief states. "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."
According to the legal expert, Trump "is represented by his nominee to be Solicitor General, John Sauer, who obsequiously described the president-elect in the glowing sort of terms Trump likes to see himself described with."
"The case is ultimately about whether U.S. companies that platform TikTok can continue to do so after the date of the ban, but apparently, Trump just wants to jump in and make a deal," she wrote. "There’s more than a smidge of kleptocracy underlying the idea—one wonders if even the Supreme Court will have the stomach for it."
You can read the full post from Vance on Substack right here.