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In this photo illustration, the TikTok logo is displayed on a phone screen in front of US Capitol in Washington DC. (CelalGunes\/Anadolu via Getty)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Remember when Congress banned TikTok? A bipartisan majority passed a law last year to ban the massively popular social media platform due to the national security implications of its control by the Chinese government. President Joe Biden signed<\/a> it into law, and in January the Supreme Court upheld<\/a> the law. And yet, TikTok is still with us. So what happened?<\/p>\n How does a law\u2026 not become a law? According to the Trump administration, the president has the authority to nullify laws he doesn\u2019t like. The fate of the TikTok ban hasn\u2019t made national headlines in months among the deluge of other notable anti-democratic Trump administration actions. But in letters obtained<\/a> this week by the New York Times<\/em>, the Trump administration is claiming broad powers to simply wipe from the books laws it does not like. The TikTok ban has become Exhibit A.<\/p>\n The TikTok law operated not as an outright ban but by making it illegal to host the app in app stores and cloud and internet services, with punishing fines for companies that disobeyed. But in seeking to overturn the law by fiat, the Trump administration tells companies like Apple and Google that they are off the hook. <\/p>\n Not only was it a promise that the Trump administration would not enforce the law, but that no future administration could. This move is unprecedented. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cArticle II of the United States Constitution vests in the President the responsibility over national security and the conduct of foreign policy,\u201d Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote<\/a> in an April letter to tech companies including Apple, Google, and Amazon. The TikTok law, she continued, does not \u201cinfringe upon such core Presidential national security and foreign affairs powers.\u201d In other words, if the president invokes his authority in the realms of national security and foreign affairs, he can nullify a law. <\/p>\n Bondi\u2019s letters informed the tech companies that continuing to host TikTok, despite the plain language of the law, was not illegal. Not only was it a promise that the Trump administration would not enforce the law, but that no future administration could. This move is unprecedented. \u201cRecent past presidents have been aggressive in exercising law enforcement discretion,\u201d Harvard Law School\u2019s Jack Goldsmith told the Times<\/em>, \u201cbut they haven\u2019t suspended the operation of a law entirely or immunized its violation prospectively.\u201d <\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time Trump has attempted to thwart or ignore the law. In the past week, his Education Department refused to disburse $7 million in funding for afterschool care programs, English language instruction, and other programs. The money was appropriated by Congress and signed by the president, and its disbursement is required by law. But the Office of Management and Budget, under director Russel Vought, has claimed<\/a> the power to impound funds. In the case of the missing education money, OMB is investigating<\/a> whether the funds were being used to further a \u201cradical leftwing agenda.\u201d This isn\u2019t the first time the Trump administration has illegally refused to spend money, and it certainly won\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n Still, claiming that the president has inherent powers to nullify represents an unprecedented power grab by the Trump administration. If the law can be turned on and off by the president, Congress\u2019 authority is worthless. Today, it\u2019s the TikTok ban and spending requirements. What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n