New York: The legal battle against the Trump administration’s WeChat ban will reach a federal appellate court if an upcoming hearing rules in favor of the US government, according to a non-profit group representing US WeChat users, which has insisted on a high-profile challenge against the ban since August.
That suggests the motion filed against the ban targeting WeChat, a rare act of defiance against the US government among the Chinese-American community, could well continue after the November presidential election, an advisor to the US WeChat Users Alliance told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Sunday.
The alliance scored a phased victory in its quest to block Trump’s August 6 announcement aiming to ban US transactions with WeChat and the US Commerce Department’s ban announcement on September 18 that details prohibitions on the app. A US district court in San Francisco issued an order on September 20 granting a nationwide preliminary injunction against Trump’s ban.
In a filing on Friday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) asked Judge Laurel Beeler, who had agreed to put on hold the US re-strictions, to allow for an immediate ban on the app on the grounds of national security threats.
Saying that the DOJ motion to stay the injunction pending appeal came within the alliance’s expectations, the advisor, requesting anonymity, said it’s difficult to predict the court’s decision.
As part of its effort to stay the injunction, the DOJ submitted a confidential document that will only be reviewed by the judge and won’t be made publicly available. The alliance expressed its skepticism about the motive and timing involved in filing such evidence for a case involving substantial public interest.
WeChat will remain readily available in the US until the judge makes her decision, probably in a few days, after the fourth hearing on the case that’s scheduled for October 15, according to the alliance.
The loser is expected to file an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judging by the progress and previous lawsuits, “there is a big chance that the hearing for the appeal will be held after the [November] election,” the advisor revealed, adding that the possibility of an emergency hearing for the appeal can’t be ruled out.
As for whether the case would eventually reach the Supreme Court, the advisor said “the Supreme Court might be interested in our case, which involves the First Amendment and public interest.”
The odds of the Supreme Court taking an appeal stands at only about 2 percent, according to the advisor, meaning the highest court in the US takes 100-150 such cases per annum out of 7,000-8,000 requests for a hearing.-The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
