MEDIATED LIVES: The United States vs. TikTok

JAM welcomes the public to join this interactive Supreme Court oral arguments simulation in which YOU, the audience, will decide the case. Discussion about this case, larger issues of free speech and social media it raises, and the workings of the US Supreme court to follow.

Presented in partnership with Vermont Law and Graduate School and Lebanon High School, this event is free, open to the public, and will be recorded by JAM.  Please RSVP below.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE TIKTOK BAN:

A MOOT COURT EXERCISE

I. Overview

In 2024 Congress passed the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary
Controlled Application Act,” often popularly referred to as the “TikTok Ban.”
TikTok is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese internet
company ByteDance. The Act designates the People’s Republic of China as a
“foreign adversary” nation. The Act requires ByteDance to divest TikTok, so that
TikTok is no longer owned and controlled by a Chinese company. If TikTok is not
divested, it will no longer be permitted to operate in the United States.
TikTok and ByteDance, joined by several American creators, persons who
post creative content on TikTok, filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the Act
violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.
In this exercise the audience will hear an oral argument on the
constitutionality of the TikTok ban. Audience members will serve as members of
the United States Supreme Court. Rod Smolla, President of Vermont Law and
Graduate School, will first play the role of a lawyer representing TikTok, attacking
the TikTok Ban, and then play the role of a lawyer representing the United States,
defending the TikTok Ban. The audience members playing the roles of Supreme
Court Justices will be invited to interrupt and question both lawyer-advocates.
Following the arguments the audience members will be invited to explain why they
believe the Ban should or should not be upheld, followed by an audience vote on
the outcome.

About Rodney A. Smolla, JD, President, Vermont Law and Graduate School:

Previously president of Furman University, and dean at Washington and Lee University and University of Richmond law schools, Professor Smolla has long been a strong advocate for experiential learning, the development of professional competencies, and civic engagement. The author of more than 100 articles published in law reviews and other publications, he is a nationally known scholar on matters relating to constitutional law, civil rights, freedom of speech, and mass media, particularly matters relating to libel and privacy.  Learn more.