"Any FCC adjudication would be a charade."
minute read
Disney's ABC network has launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration's Federal Communications Commission alleging First Amendment violations. The FCC has demanded that the stations under the Disney ABC umbrella file early for renewal of their broadcast licenses. ABC airs Trump-critical panel news show The View as well as late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, among hundreds of other offerings. "Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts," the suit alleges.
The FCC's chair, Brendan Carr, has told Disney that they must file renewals for their 8 channels ahead of the normal schedule. Disney made the application "under protest in response to an unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional order," lawyers say. The View has been targeted over their alleged violation of the "equal time" election laws requiring broadcast television and radio stations to offer equal air time to both sides of political races.
Whether time is given freely or sold to a campaign, that allowance must be extended to their opposition as well. The rule has been in place since 1934 and is specific to broadcast because the "scarcity of broadcast frequencies and the potential for interference absent coordinated use of those frequencies requires regulation of broadcast media in ways that necessarily deny some people the ability to broadcast."
The FCC extended that rule to late-night and daytime in January, not just to advertising. The investigation into ABC followed appearances on The View from Democrat Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. His opponent, Ken Paxton, has not been on The View. The Media Research Council has revealed that both The View and Jimmy Kimmel Live! have had a shocking dearth of conservative candidates or guests on their programs.
In the filing, ABC states that they are being prosecuted by the administration over news coverage and that the network has "no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the Administration's demands." The administration, lawyers for ABC said, has "attacked ABC's speech." They are concerned that "those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of speech."
"With the threat of non-renewal or revocation of its Stations’ broadcast licenses on the line, ABC cannot ignore the consequences of any decision that might anger the Administration or the FCC Chairman," reads the suit.
"Any FCC adjudication would be a charade," the suit states. "The Commission cannot lawfully grant renewal this early in the license terms—the only outcomes on the table are adverse to Plaintiffs. At one extreme, the Commission may intentionally prolong the adjudicative process, miring ABC in years of costly litigation, with the threat of adverse action ever present and with every editorial judgment shadowed by the prospect of provoking the Administration into further retaliation."
"At another extreme," the suit adds, "the Commission may use the hearing to deny license renewal or immediately revoke the Stations’ licenses, forcing Plaintiffs off the air entirely, as the President has repeatedly demanded. In either scenario, the Administration accomplishes its goal of eliminating a perceived media critic: either it gets Plaintiffs to fall in line, or it silences them if they refuse."
The suit goes on to say, "The Commission’s true target is not the Stations’ employment practices or their carriage of a single presidential address; it is the content of Plaintiffs’ programming—and thus their speech. Because the Commission cannot regulate that content directly, it has used its review
of the Stations’ licenses as an instrument to the same end."
The FCC has also investigated ABC over DEI and alleged discrimination. "For decades," Carr said in 2025, "Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes. But then something changed. Disney has now been embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies."
The FCC's chair, Brendan Carr, has told Disney that they must file renewals for their 8 channels ahead of the normal schedule. Disney made the application "under protest in response to an unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional order," lawyers say. The View has been targeted over their alleged violation of the "equal time" election laws requiring broadcast television and radio stations to offer equal air time to both sides of political races.
Whether time is given freely or sold to a campaign, that allowance must be extended to their opposition as well. The rule has been in place since 1934 and is specific to broadcast because the "scarcity of broadcast frequencies and the potential for interference absent coordinated use of those frequencies requires regulation of broadcast media in ways that necessarily deny some people the ability to broadcast."
The FCC extended that rule to late-night and daytime in January, not just to advertising. The investigation into ABC followed appearances on The View from Democrat Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. His opponent, Ken Paxton, has not been on The View. The Media Research Council has revealed that both The View and Jimmy Kimmel Live! have had a shocking dearth of conservative candidates or guests on their programs.
In the filing, ABC states that they are being prosecuted by the administration over news coverage and that the network has "no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the Administration's demands." The administration, lawyers for ABC said, has "attacked ABC's speech." They are concerned that "those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of speech."
"With the threat of non-renewal or revocation of its Stations’ broadcast licenses on the line, ABC cannot ignore the consequences of any decision that might anger the Administration or the FCC Chairman," reads the suit.
"Any FCC adjudication would be a charade," the suit states. "The Commission cannot lawfully grant renewal this early in the license terms—the only outcomes on the table are adverse to Plaintiffs. At one extreme, the Commission may intentionally prolong the adjudicative process, miring ABC in years of costly litigation, with the threat of adverse action ever present and with every editorial judgment shadowed by the prospect of provoking the Administration into further retaliation."
"At another extreme," the suit adds, "the Commission may use the hearing to deny license renewal or immediately revoke the Stations’ licenses, forcing Plaintiffs off the air entirely, as the President has repeatedly demanded. In either scenario, the Administration accomplishes its goal of eliminating a perceived media critic: either it gets Plaintiffs to fall in line, or it silences them if they refuse."
The suit goes on to say, "The Commission’s true target is not the Stations’ employment practices or their carriage of a single presidential address; it is the content of Plaintiffs’ programming—and thus their speech. Because the Commission cannot regulate that content directly, it has used its review
of the Stations’ licenses as an instrument to the same end."
The FCC has also investigated ABC over DEI and alleged discrimination. "For decades," Carr said in 2025, "Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes. But then something changed. Disney has now been embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies."
ABC sues FCC over alleged 1A violations by The Post Millennial
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