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Federal appeals court declines to temporarily block ban on TikTok, teeing up showdown at SCOTUS over controversial law

  • CNN
  • December 13, 2024
CNN

 — 

A federal appeals court on Friday declined to temporarily block a ban on TikTok, teeing up a showdown at the Supreme Court over whether the law should take effect while the social media platform's challenge to it plays out.

Last week, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the law, clearing the way for it to take effect on January 19. Days later, TikTok asked the court to issue a temporary pause on the ban while the company asks the Supreme Court to review its challenge to the law.

The appeals court unanimously rejected that bid in a brief, unsigned order that called such a block "unwarranted."

The law requires the platform to be sold to a new, non-Chinese owner or be banned in the United States. After the January deadline, US app stores and internet services could face hefty fines for hosting TikTok if it is not sold. (Under the legislation, the president may issue a one-time extension of the deadline.)

The company has indicated in court filings that if the appeals court declined to grant interim relief, it would ask the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis to block the law for now. That request could come at any time.

Attorneys for the company had argued to the appeals court that declining to temporarily block the law would force the Supreme Court to review the matter on its so-called shadow docket "in mere weeks (and over the holidays, no less)."

"Out of respect for the Supreme Court's vital role, this Court should grant an interim injunction that enables a more deliberate and orderly process," they wrote in court papers.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, had urged the appeals court to not issue a temporary block on the law, arguing that doing so might allow the company to wait months to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, effectively halting the law indefinitely.

This is a developing story and will be updated.