The company and its Chinese parent invoked the First Amendment in urging the justices to step in before a deadline to sell or be shut down.

The company and its Chinese parent invoked the First Amendment in urging the justices to step in before a Jan. 19 deadline to sell or be shut down.

The company is requesting a pause on a law that requires the app to be sold or face a ban in the United States by mid-January, aiming to buy time for the Supreme Court or the incoming Trump administration to rescue it.

The law will ban the video app in the United States by Jan. 19 if its owner, ByteDance, does not sell it to a non-Chinese company.

When asked about whether President-elect Donald Trump would prevent a TikTok ban in the United States, a spokeswoman told The New York Times: “He will deliver.”