Melissa Murray

One of the things we talked about on the Strict Scrutiny podcast from last week is the brief that John Sauer filed on behalf of Donald Trump in the recently argued TikTok case. So this is the case about whether a law that would require TikTok to either divest its Chinese ownership or go dark in the United States is within Congress's authority to enact. And

This was a case between the federal government and TikTok, but Donald Trump as president-elect decided to file an amicus brief, a friend of the court brief, and John Sauer wrote this brief on his behalf and filed it and put his bar number on it. And it's wild.

This was a case between the federal government and TikTok, but Donald Trump as president-elect decided to file an amicus brief, a friend of the court brief, and John Sauer wrote this brief on his behalf and filed it and put his bar number on it. And it's wild.

This was a case between the federal government and TikTok, but Donald Trump as president-elect decided to file an amicus brief, a friend of the court brief, and John Sauer wrote this brief on his behalf and filed it and put his bar number on it. And it's wild.

It is an absolutely wild, insane... If a student gave this to me as a first-year legal writing exercise, I would pull the student aside and ask them whether or not this was the career for them because... The brief basically says what the court should do is pause this law, pause the effective date of this law to allow Donald Trump to step in because he is a quote unquote consummate dealmaker.

It is an absolutely wild, insane... If a student gave this to me as a first-year legal writing exercise, I would pull the student aside and ask them whether or not this was the career for them because... The brief basically says what the court should do is pause this law, pause the effective date of this law to allow Donald Trump to step in because he is a quote unquote consummate dealmaker.

It is an absolutely wild, insane... If a student gave this to me as a first-year legal writing exercise, I would pull the student aside and ask them whether or not this was the career for them because... The brief basically says what the court should do is pause this law, pause the effective date of this law to allow Donald Trump to step in because he is a quote unquote consummate dealmaker.

And he should be allowed to intervene here and negotiate with China to figure out a resolution to this. So that is just wild.

And he should be allowed to intervene here and negotiate with China to figure out a resolution to this. So that is just wild.

And he should be allowed to intervene here and negotiate with China to figure out a resolution to this. So that is just wild.

This president-elect, instead of all of the usual procedures for how we do policy and how we enact laws and how the court addresses laws that may or may not be invalid because they are constitutionally infirm, let's put all that to the side for a minute and just let America's number one dealmaker step in and handle this. Only he can fix it.

This president-elect, instead of all of the usual procedures for how we do policy and how we enact laws and how the court addresses laws that may or may not be invalid because they are constitutionally infirm, let's put all that to the side for a minute and just let America's number one dealmaker step in and handle this. Only he can fix it.

This president-elect, instead of all of the usual procedures for how we do policy and how we enact laws and how the court addresses laws that may or may not be invalid because they are constitutionally infirm, let's put all that to the side for a minute and just let America's number one dealmaker step in and handle this. Only he can fix it.

I mean, like, seriously, that was crazy. The other crazy thing about it, and this should actually alarm individuals who are thinking about what's going to happen in this new administration. One of the theories behind letting Donald Trump consummate dealmaker come in and handle the whole TikTok flap is,

I mean, like, seriously, that was crazy. The other crazy thing about it, and this should actually alarm individuals who are thinking about what's going to happen in this new administration. One of the theories behind letting Donald Trump consummate dealmaker come in and handle the whole TikTok flap is,

I mean, like, seriously, that was crazy. The other crazy thing about it, and this should actually alarm individuals who are thinking about what's going to happen in this new administration. One of the theories behind letting Donald Trump consummate dealmaker come in and handle the whole TikTok flap is,

is that Congress doesn't have the authority to pass this law because all of this is within the purview of the president. So if you thought we had separation of powers and there was a lane for Congress and a lane for the judiciary and a lane for the president, it's just one road. It's an autobahn and it's an autobahn for the president. That's basically what John Sauer was arguing in this brief. And

is that Congress doesn't have the authority to pass this law because all of this is within the purview of the president. So if you thought we had separation of powers and there was a lane for Congress and a lane for the judiciary and a lane for the president, it's just one road. It's an autobahn and it's an autobahn for the president. That's basically what John Sauer was arguing in this brief. And

is that Congress doesn't have the authority to pass this law because all of this is within the purview of the president. So if you thought we had separation of powers and there was a lane for Congress and a lane for the judiciary and a lane for the president, it's just one road. It's an autobahn and it's an autobahn for the president. That's basically what John Sauer was arguing in this brief. And

Reading this, it made my head explode. It's so insane. It's so divorced from constitutional reality. It's so wild. And I literally was like, you really put your bar number on this. Okay, I guess. And that's going to be the new Solicitor General, the federal government's lawyer before the Supreme Court, the 10th Justice, as it were.