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tiktok and the creators' group of the popular short video app have hired two top u.s. supreme court lawyers to fight the u.s. government over a law requiring china's bytedance to divest tiktok's u.s. assets or face a ban, reuters reported on september 6.

on september 16, the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit will hear the case of tiktok and bytedance, when andrew pincus of mayer brown will challenge the controversial u.s. law. jeffrey fisher of stanford law school will defend the content creators.

they will face longtime justice department appellate attorney daniel tenny in their defense of the law.

the justice department declined to comment and tiktok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

tiktok and bytedance are also represented by a team from covington & burling llp, including alexander berengaut, lead counsel for both companies and co-leader of the firm’s government litigation group.

the creators’ lawyers also include ambika kumar, co-head of davis wright tremaine’s media law practice.

fisher, a special counsel at the law firm o'melveny & myers, has tried 48 cases before the supreme court and is known for his constitutional and criminal law work. pincus has tried 30 cases before the high court and is known for his opposition to class action lawsuits.

tenney at the justice department has heard major cases before federal appeals courts involving abortion rights, immigration and other issues.

the appeals court panel — circuit judges sri srinivasan, neomi rao and douglas ginsburg — will also hear from a lawyer representing the nonprofit group.the organization has also filed a lawsuit under the divestment or ban law.

the law, signed by u.s. president joe biden in april, requires bytedance to sell tiktok by jan. 19 or face a ban. the white house and others who support the law say the measure is a challenge to the app’s chinese ownership rather than an effort to eliminate tiktok.

tiktok and bytedance argue that the law is a radical departure from the country’s tradition of advocating an open internet, and bytedance says a divestiture is impossible from a technical, commercial or legal perspective.

tiktok and the justice department have asked for a ruling by dec. 6, which could allow the u.s. supreme court to make a decision before any ban.