US judge refuses to fast-track ABC and Disney’s free-speech case against Trump’s FCC

Updated 23 August 2026, 14:00 CEST — WASHINGTON — US District Judge Loren AliKhan on Thursday, 20 August, rejected Disney and ABC’s request for an urgent hearing in Washington in their lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, leaving the underlying First Amendment case unresolved. Reuters reported that the judge instead set 24 September as the deadline for legal submissions and scheduled a hearing for early October.

ABC, Disney and eight company-owned television stations filed the case on 18 August in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The federal docket identifies the defendants as the FCC, chairman Brendan Carr and other commission officials. The plaintiffs want the court to stop an early licence-renewal process that they describe as unlawful retaliation for ABC’s journalism, commentary and entertainment programming.

The Associated Press reported that the FCC ordered accelerated reviews of the eight stations’ licences in April, years before their ordinary expiry dates. The regulator cited questions surrounding Disney’s diversity and inclusion practices. ABC’s complaint argues that the intervention forms part of a wider campaign against broadcasts opposed by President Donald Trump, including material from late-night presenter Jimmy Kimmel and the daytime programme The View.

The FCC rejects that account. An agency spokesperson told Axios that every broadcaster, including Disney, has a legal duty to operate in the public interest. Carr has not decided whether to refer the licences to a formal administrative hearing, according to Reuters. The FCC has agreed to give Disney at least 48 hours’ notice before issuing such an order.

The dispute tests the boundary between the FCC’s authority over use of the public airwaves and constitutional protections against government punishment for editorial speech. The FCC’s own August public notice says its rules permit early renewal demands when they are essential to an investigation, while noting that the ABC licences would not ordinarily begin expiring until 2028.

There is no direct legal effect in Belgium: US broadcast licences and the First Amendment do not govern Belgian media. The case nevertheless offers Belgian and European readers a significant comparison as EU institutions implement safeguards for editorial independence under the European Media Freedom Act.

The next substantive steps are written arguments due by 24 September and the hearing expected in early October. The court has not ruled on whether the FCC acted retaliatorily, whether the accelerated reviews are lawful or whether ABC is entitled to an injunction.