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While I am not sympathetic to TikTok, I think you're more observant than most law school graduates about this who have been trained to try and interpret the law
by garbagecoder 4y ago
While I am not sympathetic to TikTok, I think you're more observant than most law school graduates about this who have been trained to try and interpret the law as it is, without asking this very Instrumentalist question that is the only one that matters. And who is the President implementing it might matter too.
I didn't read the article, but I don't think it violates the First Amendment as it stands now if they provide a good enough basis grounded in national security. The way people want the Constitution to be, versus how it is, aren't the same thing as you pointed out.
- skissane 4y ago> And who is the President implementing it might matter too. It might. But, in this case, I think that’s less likely. If Biden tries to ban TikTok, he’ll simply be doing what Trump already tried to do. If both Trump and Biden want something, it ends up looking bipartisan-which increases the odds SCOTUS will uphold it.
- garbagecoder 4y agoI don't think Trump having tried it matters. The policy of the SCOTUS majority is "executive power broad for things and people we like, executive power narrow for things and people we hate."
- skissane 4y agoIf Biden bans TikTok, and it gets before SCOTUS, I expect a lot of amicus briefs supporting him from conservative think-tanks, Republican Congresscritters, former Republican Attorneys-General, etc. If Trump doesn’t suffice as a signal to the conservative SCOTUS majority that “in this case we are all on the same side”, all those conservative amici probably will