Sarah Isgur, a former Department of Justice spokesperson in the first Trump administration, cast doubt on President-elect Donald Trump's ability to bend the Supreme Court of the United States to his will with a bid to delay a law that would ban the TikTok social media platform.
December 30, 2024

Sarah Isgur, a former Department of Justice spokesperson in the first Trump administration, cast doubt on President-elect Donald Trump's ability to bend the Supreme Court of the United States to his will with a bid to delay a law that would ban the TikTok social media platform.

Although Congress passed legislation giving President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok on Jan. 19 before leaving office, Trump has told the high court to delay the law until he takes office a day later. The law requires the president to ban TikTok if its parent company does not break ties with the Chinese Government. Trump has suggested he would find a way around the law after crediting the TikTok platform with helping him win the 2024 election.

"The Supreme Court is set to hear expedited oral argument on January 10th," Isgur explained Sunday during a panel discussion on ABC. "That's so that they can decide this case ahead of the January 19th deadline."

"Interestingly, I think that Donald Trump's brief is this great example of the logical conclusion of the imperial presidency, the idea that Congress doesn't matter throughout the brief," she continued. "It's like, oh, Congress said this, but the president is in charge."

"The president needs to be able to do this. President Trump alone."

Isgur argued that Trump's brief to the Supreme Court read more like a press release than a legal filing.

"The Supreme Court probably puts them on their heels to be against whatever he just filed," she noted. "Looks more like [Trump speechwriter] Stephen Miller wrote it."

Isgur predicted the court would rule against Trump.

"There is some chance that they could decide another way," she said. "But I think TikTok will have to divest."

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