* * * * * * MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXVI NO. 69 WSJ.com HHHH $4 .00

TikTok Deal RaisesOwnership Questions

Lastweek: DJIA 27657.42 g 8.22 0.03% NASDAQ 10793.28 g 0.6% STOXX600 368.78 À 0.2% 10-YR. TREASURY g 8/32 , yield 0.694% OIL $41.11 À $3.78 EURO $1.1842 YEN 104.57

SupremeCourtVacancySets OffDebateTrump prepares pickas Republicans andDemocrats weightheir political options

Until mid-March, AlysseHopkins earned a comfort-able living in RocklandCounty, N.Y., representingclients in foreclosure casesand personal-injury lawsuits.

In a good year, the 43-year-old lawyer and her hus-band, Ian Boschen, 41, to-gether brought in about$175,000, the couple said—enough to cover the mort-gage, two car leases, studentloans, credit cards and as-sorted costs of raising twodaughters in the New YorkCity suburbs.

After the coronavirus

BY ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS

Facebook Inc.’s dominance insocial media and become atemplate for partnerships withother Chinese-owned apps.

The plan calls for OracleCorp. and Walmart Inc. to formpartnerships with TikTok’sowner, ByteDance Ltd. of Bei-jing, to become a new U.S.-based company called TikTokGlobal. The Commerce Depart-ment said it would delay forone week a ban on U.S. down-loads and updates for the Tik-Tok app that was set to take ef-fect at 11:59 p.m. Sunday whilethe new deal for TikTok is fi-

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WASHINGTON—The emerg-ing deal to make China’s Tik-Tok app a U.S.-based company,while still facing questions

over security and ownership is-sues, seems poised to reshapethe social-media landscape.

The deal—approved in con-cept by President Trump thisweekend, but pending final ap-proval by the companies in-volved—would create an onlinepower that could challenge

By John D. McKinnon,Alex Leary

and Kate Davidson

The College Freshman’s LifeThis Fall: ‘Definitely Weird’

i i i

First-year students miss the usual ritesof passage; socially distanced poker

On one of his first nights ofcollege, 18-year-old JamieGassman joined a poker game.

He and five other first-yearstudents at Whitworth Univer-sity in Spokane, Wash., sataround a table.

Not at the table. Around it,chairs pushed back so theycould be 6 feet apart. One by

one, they would stand, ap-proach the table to bet or playa hand, then return to theirseats. They wore masks andgloves. It was a blast, Mr.Gassman said.

Rites of passage for manycollege freshmen—staying uplate in a dorm lounge asstrangers turn into friends;sitting alongside hundreds of

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BY MELISSA KORN

halted many foreclosuresand closed courts, her workdried up. Unemploymentbenefits have helped, Ms.Hopkins said, but the familyis running low on savingsand can’t keep up with$9,000 in monthly debt pay-ments including mortgageinstallments. “It frustratesme to not be able to earn aliving,” she said. “I have alaw degree, almost 20 yearsof practice.”

Millions of Americanshave lost jobs during a pan-

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Outlook: Black homeownershipfaces tests..................................... A2

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WASHINGTON—The deathof Supreme Court Justice RuthBader Ginsburg six weeks be-fore Election Day stirred politi-cal jockeying by both parties,with Republicans pushing tomove quickly on a successor

and Democrats assessing op-tions they have to keep theseat open.

President Trump said thatthis coming week he wouldnominate a woman as a succes-sor to Justice Ginsburg, whodied Friday of metastatic pan-creatic cancer at age 87. Re-placing the liberal icon with aconservative jurist could fur-ther entrench the court’s right-ward shift.

The president’s list has beennarrowed to two leading candi-dates, according to people fa-miliar with the matter: federalappellate judges Amy Coney

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By Andrew Restuccia,Natalie Andrews

and Joshua Jamerson

CONTENTSArts in Review... A15Business News...... B3Crossword.............. A16Heard on Street... B10Markets...................... B9Opinion.............. A17-19

Outlook....................... A2Personal Journal A13-14Sports........................ A16Technology............... B4U.S. News............. A2-6Weather................... A16World News........ A8,10

s 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.All Rights Reserved

>

What’sNews

The death of Justice Gins-burg stirred political jockey-ing by both parties, with Re-publicans pushing tomovequickly on a successor andDemocrats assessing anytools they have for keepingthe seat open.A1, A4, A5The battle is complicatinglegislative talks to prevent agovernment shutdown andnarrowing the possibility ofanother coronavirus reliefbill before the election.A4 The presidential raceremains stable, with Bidenmaintaining his 8-pointlead over Trump, a newWall Street Journal/NBCNews poll shows. A6HowsoonAmericans knowthe outcome of the presiden-tial election could hinge on afew states—and how fast theycountmail ballots.A6TheU.S. reported about41,000 new coronavirus caseson Saturday, a decrease fromthe previous day’s total, asthe nation’s death toll ap-proached 200,000.A3Researchers are findingevidence that the pandemic’sdeadly reach is stretching farbeyond peoplewho died fromcoronavirus infections.A3 The Bobcat wildfire is onthe path to becoming one ofthe largest wildfires in LosAngeles County history. A2Anenvelope containing thepoison ricinwas interceptedin theWhiteHousemail.A6Russia has struck prelim-inary agreements to sell itsCovid-19 vaccine to morethan 10 countries. A10Died:DonaldM. Kendall,99, built PepsiCo into a snack-and-beverage juggernaut.B5

An emerging deal tomake China’s TikTok

app a U.S.-based companystands to reshape the social-media landscape, even asquestions persist over secu-rity concerns and ownershipof the new company. A1 A federal judge tempo-rarily blocked the Trumpadministration’s executiveorder curbing Americans’use of WeChat, the Chi-nese-owned messagingand e-commerce app. A1 Surging deposits anddeclining lending are driv-ing banks to dramaticallyincrease their holdings ofU.S. Treasurys, offeringsignificant support to thebond market. B1Meatprices are falling aslast spring’s shortages fadeand livestock clogs farms, ben-efiting consumers but hurtingmeatpackers and farmers.B1The coronavirus pandemichas brought a sense of ur-gency to Europe’s ailing banksto scale up or risk dying.B1Global trade is reboundingmuchmore quickly this yearthan it did after the 2008 fi-nancial crisis.A8China’s big tech companiesare circling the auto-repairbusiness in a bid to capturethe boom in vehiclemainte-nance as the country’s vastcar fleet begins to age.B3McDonald’s ex-CEO East-erbrook said in a court filingthat the company shouldn’tbe allowed to claw back hisseverance package. B3 Shares of companies thatmine or make raw materialsare trading like once-hottechnology stocks. B9

Business&Finance

World-Wide

From the moment PresidentTrump selected Brett Ka-vanaugh for the Supreme Courtin 2018, Judge Amy Coney Bar-rett became a front-runner forany future high-court vacancythat might arise during hispresidency.

Judge Barrett, 48 years old,a member of the Chicago-basedSeventh U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals since 2017, has a repu-tation for possessing a first-

rate legal mind and solidly con-servative views.

“She’s very highly re-spected,” Mr. Trump said Sat-urday. The president said heplanned to choose a woman tofill the seat vacated by JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg, who diedFriday, and Judge Barrett is atthe center of the conversation.

The president indicated hewill review other candidates aswell, including Judge BarbaraLagoa, a federal appellate judgewho previously served on the

Florida Supreme Court, the firstCuban-American to do so.

Judge Lagoa, 52, a graduateof Florida International Univer-sity and Columbia Law School,has received less public atten-tion than Judge Barrett andonly recently entered the con-versation as a Trump prospectfor the Supreme Court.

A finalist when Mr. Trumpchose Justice Kavanaugh, JudgeBarrett interviewed with thepresident in 2018 and im-pressed him and his advisers.

But she also had been on theappellate bench less than a yearafter 15 years teaching law.That short experience, and theprospect that she could spark aparticularly bitter confirmationfight over abortion rights in aclosely divided Senate, wereamong the factors the WhiteHouse considered at the time.

A Notre Dame Law Schoolgraduate, Judge Barrett was alaw clerk to Justice AntoninScalia and then spent three

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BY BRENT KENDALL

Barrett, Scalia’s Former Clerk,Seen as a Top Hopeful for Seat

Flowers were left Sunday in front of the Supreme Court to honor Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday.

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DeChambeauWins U.S. Open

Bryson DeChambeau, 27, on Sunday won the U.S. Open, his firstmajor, at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. A16

A federal judge in Californiatemporarily blocked theTrump administration’s execu-tive order curbing Americans’use of WeChat, upholding amotion from users of the Chi-nese-owned messaging and e-commerce app.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lau-rel Beeler entered an order onSunday for a preliminary in-junction blocking the federalban on U.S. downloads andother functions from goinginto force as scheduled for11:59 p.m. Sunday.

The ruling is a victory forWeChat’s owner, Chinese techgiant Tencent Holdings Ltd.,and the U.S. WeChat Users Alli-ance, the nonprofit organizationrepresenting several mobile-appusers that filed the motionagainst the Trump administra-tion in August. The group,which has said it isn’t affiliatedwith Tencent, said it consists ofusers who rely on WeChat forbusiness and personal reasons.

In her 22-page order, JudgeBeeler agreed with free-speecharguments raised by the usergroups, saying she is convinced“there are no viable substituteplatforms or apps for the Chi-nese-speaking and Chinese-American community.”

“WeChat is effectively theonly means of communicationfor many in the community,not only because China bansother apps, but also becauseChinese speakers with limitedEnglish proficiency have nooptions other than WeChat,”she said in the order.

As of Sunday afternoon, itwas unclear if WeChat wouldcontinue to be downloadablepast midnight in the appstores of Apple Inc. and Alpha-bet Inc.’s Google.

A Google spokesman saidthe company was reviewingJudge Beeler’s ruling. Appledeclined to comment.

Judge Beeler’s ruling in fa-vor of granting a preliminary

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BY SEBASTIAN HERRERAAND KATY STECH FEREK

U.S. BidTo BlockWeChatIs Halted

Pandemic UpendsMiddle-ClassFamily FinancesJob losses wreak havoc on loan-laden

households; ‘I will never claw my way out’

Legislative agenda faces newuncertainty.................................. A4

Health-law case to be put inspotlight........................................ A5

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