I'm not sure how you read that from this. The last sentence suggests that the appeals court believes there's no need to decide if strict or intermediate scrutiny applies, because they believe the government's justification satisfies strict scrutiny.
They do believe that intermediate scrutiny could be appropriate. Sure TikTok can (and presumably will appeal), but to SCOTUS, they will only take up the case if they believe in the possibility that the appeals court erred on two things: that 1) strict scrutiny is required, and 2) the facts of the case don't pass muster when strict scrutiny is applied. That feels like a pretty high bar for a potential TikTok appeal to clear.
Honestly I think TikTok's best hope is Trump. Either he somehow convinces Congress to repeal the ban law, or he instructs his DoJ to not enforce it.
My reading (IANAL) is that if intermediate scrutiny were to apply, the bill holds. If strict scrutiny were to apply, the bill doesn't hold. There isn't enough SC precedent to decide which scrutiny should apply. (thus implying that the SC needs to make that determination).
Then they concluding by saying "anyway, it doesn't really matter" but that seems weak to me.
They do believe that intermediate scrutiny could be appropriate. Sure TikTok can (and presumably will appeal), but to SCOTUS, they will only take up the case if they believe in the possibility that the appeals court erred on two things: that 1) strict scrutiny is required, and 2) the facts of the case don't pass muster when strict scrutiny is applied. That feels like a pretty high bar for a potential TikTok appeal to clear.
Honestly I think TikTok's best hope is Trump. Either he somehow convinces Congress to repeal the ban law, or he instructs his DoJ to not enforce it.