What does Per Curiam mean? Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban days before law goes into effect

On Friday, January 17, the US Supreme Court ruled that a law that may ban TikTok in the country unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells it is constitutional. The law will take effect on January 19, 2025, making it illegal for "companies in the United States to provide services to distribute, maintain, or update the social media platform TikTok."

In an unsigned per curiam decision, the court stated:

“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the court wrote in a per curiam ruling, which is not attributed to any particular justice..”

The statement continued:

“But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary…”

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was upheld as lawful by the Supreme Court in a per curiam ruling on the same day. Per curiam means "by the court" in Latin.

A per curiam ruling or opinion in law is one that is credited to the full court or panel of judges who heard the case. It is not written by or attributed to a particular judge.

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The US Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban via per curiam

The company is again facing issues (Image via Getty)

Per curiam refers to a decision made by the court as a whole, particularly an anonymous judgment from the entire court, in contrast to an opinion issued under a specific judge's name. Occasionally, an opinion authored by the chief or presiding judge but expressed on behalf of the entire court is also referred to as per curiam.

Individual justices write and sign one or more opinions that make up the majority of the court's rulings on the merits. Other justices may concur with these views. If the names of the judges and justices who wrote and concurred in the opinion are listed, the ruling is not considered per curiam, even if these signed opinions are unanimous.

Decisions made per curiam, such as the decision to ban TikTok, are usually brief and address issues that the court considers mostly uncontroversial. They are most frequently employed in summary decisions in contemporary practice, where the court renders a ruling without a full briefing or argument.

The designation "per curiam" is mentioned at the start of the opinion. When the Supreme Court has a vacancy, it may issue single-line per curiam opinions without dissent or concurrence. However, individual judges sign the majority of rulings from the Supreme Court and other American courts.

With rare exceptions, the U.S. Supreme Court seldom renders opinions per curiam. Their rulings typically consist of one or more opinions signed by individual justices, which are then endorsed by additional judges. The same thing happened when the panel decided to uphold the ban on TikTok.

Since only the court has the authority to formally designate opinions as per curiam, unanimous and signed opinions are not taken into consideration. Similarly, decisions made per curiam are not necessarily unanimous and uncontroversial.

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Meanwhile, the court order that banned the app TikTok further continued:

"For the foregoing Per Curiam reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners' First Amendment rights. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed."

The D.C. Court of Appeals also rejected TikTok's attempt to postpone the prohibition, which is scheduled to take effect on January 19, 2025, in a per curiam ruling on December 13, 2024.

According to the act, which was part of an aid package signed by President Joe Biden on April 24, 2024, distributing, maintaining, or updating a foreign adversary-controlled application is illegal.

On the other hand, following the decision, no representatives from TikTok have said anything as of yet.