The FCC has again asked a federal court to throw out ABC and Disney’s First Amendment lawsuit over early TV-license reviews, arguing the case is in the wrong forum and that the accelerated renewals were driven by an antidiscrimination investigation not by the network’s programming.
In a filing signed under U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, government lawyers said Disney’s argument “fails because the impetus for the early renewal processing of Plaintiffs’ broadcast licenses was the need for more information to support the Commission’s antidiscrimination investigation.”
They also contend Congress sent review of FCC orders to the federal courts of appeals, so the district court lacks jurisdiction. ABC, Disney and eight ABC-owned stations sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Aug. 18, 2026, seeking to halt the early-renewal process and block any hearing that could put the licenses at risk. They call the April 28 Media Bureau order unprecedented and retaliatory, saying it followed years of White House and FCC criticism of ABC content, including clashes over Jimmy Kimmel and The View.
Officials say an Enforcement Bureau probe of Disney and ABC employment practices framed as possible violations of equal-employment and antidiscrimination rules began in 2025, that Disney’s responses to letters of inquiry were incomplete, and that early renewal was the next investigative step.
An FCC spokesperson has called the lawsuit “meritless” and said the agency will “follow the facts and law.” Judge Loren L. AliKhan is hearing the dispute. Briefing on the government’s motion to dismiss and ABC’s request for a preliminary injunction was due through late September, with arguments set for the week of Oct. 5.
The FCC has agreed to give at least 48 hours’ notice before issuing a hearing designation order; if it does, the parties must return to court the next business day.
The fight now turns on two questions: whether a district judge can stop an ongoing FCC licensing process, and whether the early-renewal order was a lawful investigative tool or a penalty for speech the administration dislikes.
A dismissal would send ABC to wait for a final agency action and then seek review in an appeals court. A stay would freeze the license proceeding while the discrimination investigation could continue on a separate track.