![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gettyimages-2262378773.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n ABC is laying the groundwork for a landmark First Amendment fight.\n <\/p>\n
\n On Thursday, ABC filed paperwork to renew its local TV station licenses \u201cunder protest in response to an unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional order\u201d by the Federal Communications Commission.\n <\/p>\n
\n ABC attached an extraordinary objection letter that accused the Trump-aligned agency of using \u201cunconstitutional retaliation and coercion\u201d to threaten speech.\n <\/p>\n
\n The filings came one month after the FCC ordered ABC to submit renewal applications for all eight of its owned stations, even though the current licenses don\u2019t expire for years. It was the latest escalation in the agency\u2019s months-long attempt to pressure ABC and its parent company Disney.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe only plausible reason to issue the order is to punish the station for speech the government does not like,\u201d ABC argued in Thursday\u2019s letter.\n <\/p>\n
\n In response, FCC chairman Brendan Carr reiterated his claim that the license challenge is part of an ongoing FCC probe into Disney\u2019s diversity initiatives.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe FCC has been investigating Disney for over a year now after reports surfaced alleging that it had been discriminating against people based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics in violation of federal nondiscrimination laws,\u201d Carr wrote on X.\n <\/p>\n
\n Carr, who has followed President Trump\u2019s lead in denouncing \u201cwoke\u201d activism, wrote that the FCC \u201cwill follow the facts and law wherever they may lead.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The FCC\u2019s lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, has argued that the discrimination talk is a pretext for a political targeting of Disney.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cDisney and its ABC stations are the latest victims of this administration\u2019s campaign of censorship and control,\u201d Gomez wrote on X. \u201cI am glad to see them expose the FCC\u2019s actions as nothing more than naked political retribution and an unlawful assault on free speech and a free press.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Since Trump\u2019s reelection, the FCC has repeatedly pursued ABC, despite having limited enforcement power. Carr has scrutinized ABC\u2019s relationships with local affiliates; opened an investigation into Disney\u2019s DEI practices; issued a threat over a joke made by Jimmy Kimmel; and opened a probe into whether \u201cThe View\u201d violated a so-called \u201cequal-time\u201d rule.\n <\/p>\n
\n As the pressure accumulated and as Trump renewed his push to get Kimmel fired last month, ABC executives prepared<\/a> to defend the stations on First Amendment grounds.\n <\/p>\n