Description An interactive Supreme Court oral argument simulation in which the audience decides the case. Presented in partnership with Vermont Law and Graduate School and Lebanon High School. 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.