Brendan Carr’s Abc License Fight Meets A Skeptical Judge

A federal judge appeared skeptical Tuesday of the Federal Communications Commission’s attempts to haul in ABC’s eight broadcast licenses for an unprecedented early review.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan of Washington, D.C., appeared to agree with ABC’s claims her court could intervene in the FCC’s order hauling in the eight licenses years ahead of schedule. AliKhan also questioned the FCC’s claim that the review is tied to a discovery dispute in a discrimination investigation involving ABC’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

The hearing marks the latest skirmish in the legal battle between the Trump administration and Disney-owned ABC after the agency ordered an early review of its eight broadcast licenses.

"It strikes me with all the comments that we have from the president and from Commissioner Brendan Carr that this is merely over a discovery dispute,” AliKhan said during the hearing.

She added, “I imagine we have a lot of discovery disputes with a lot of your licensees. So what is it that made this so different that you needed to call for an early license renewal?"

AliKhan’s decision is not expected to come for a week. The Trump administration has until Oct. 9 to file additional materials on what other options it has to address a discovery dispute with a broadcaster, and ABC has until Oct. 14 to respond.

The case could become a referendum on Brendan Carr’s leadership at the FCC, and marks the first major test of his media approach, which has largely been rooted in threats and indeterminate investigations. Carr has repeatedly pressed broadcasters to uphold their obligations to operate in the public interest, a campaign his critics say is geared toward punishing President Donald Trump’s perceived enemies in the media.

Disney-owned ABC sued the FCC in August, saying Carr’s early review of its eight TV station licenses violates its rights to free speech. These stations, whose licenses are not due to expire until at least 2028, serve major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

Carr has said the scrutiny was motivated by a lengthy probe into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

Trump has repeatedly called on the FCC to crack down on companies like ABC for programming he says is biased against him.

Carr has echoed the president’s frustrations, including in a high-profile podcast last year in which Carr’s threats against broadcasters briefly led to late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s temporary suspension from the air. He’s also scrutinized political candidate appearances on talk shows like “The View,” saying they are no longer exempt from a rule requiring equal time be offered to opposing candidates. His chairmanship started with an investigation of whether CBS’ “60 Minutes” news coverage was misleading, and he ultimately secured merger conditions intended to address those concerns.

Trump explicitly called for ABC and NBC, which both license TV stations in addition to running their networks, to lose their broadcast licenses this summer for not airing one of his speeches.