Like millions of American teens, Kailey Corum is savvy about the dangers of TikTok, but she’s also wary about government efforts to shut it down. As a junior at a Virginia high school, she uses the platform to catch up on news, listen to music, and discover cooking tips. While she’s not entirely convinced the Supreme Court should decide the app’s fate, she acknowledges there’s little she can do about it.
In the coming months, the Supreme Court will decide on several high-profile cases that could significantly impact the lives of American teenagers. These cases include challenges to banning transgender care for minors, upholding a ban on vaping products, and determining the constitutionality of a TikTok law. The cases are part of a wave of culture war fights over school book bans, transgender student athletes, and the teaching of American history, prompting a flood of litigation that’s already working its way through federal courts.
The disputes are also unfolding at a time when young people are increasingly disillusioned with Washington, D.C. and the Supreme Court. A recent Marquette Law School poll found that the high court’s approval rating among 18-29-year-olds stands at just 44%, lower than any other age category.
Experts note that the cases now before the Supreme Court will likely implicate the interests of children. “I don’t think we should be surprised that more and more cases are going to get to the court directly implicating young people when so many state and local lawmakers are legislating with morality and young people on their minds,” said Aaron Tang, a law professor at the University of California, Davis.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a TikTok ban, which would allow the app to continue operating in the US if its US-based subsidiary makes a clean break from its Chinese parent company. While pediatricians and other experts have warned about the potential harms of social media for teenagers, the ban is intended to address national security concerns rather than social science.
The ban is set to take effect on January 19. Experts, including Leslie Y. Garfield Tenzer, a law professor at Pace University, note that the legal questions raised in the case don’t deal with how young people interact with the app, even though they will be most affected by the court’s decision. “The court isn’t thinking of this in terms of children,” she said.
Other cases before the court focus on issues like gender-affirming care for minors and the regulation of vaping products. A majority of justices signaled they are prepared to back a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors, with less focus on the minors who have described the care as essential. The court has also declined to consider a question about whether parents have a right to direct their children’s care.
A case pending about the FDA’s effort to yank vaping products from shelves has less to do with the health risks for youth than with whether the agency followed proper legal protocols. Nineteen percent of high school students vaped in 2020, the FDA says, a far higher share than students who smoked.
The center of these disputes are questions about whether state lawmakers and agencies overstepped when they enacted policies aimed at protecting young people. While some justices, like Justice Clarence Thomas, have raised questions about age classification and medical choices, the court’s focus is more on the state lawmakers’ and agencies’ decisions than on the potential impact on young people.
“Youth is a central theme in many of these cases, but it’s not necessarily a primary one,” said Aaron Tang. The court’s decisions will likely continue to generate controversy, given the growing distrust and disillusionment among young people with government institutions.
