The Federal Communications Commission asked the federal court in Washington on Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit from ABC, disputing the network’s claim that the agency was conducting an “extraordinary assault” against its free speech rights.
ABC sued the F.C.C. last month over its efforts to possibly strip the network’s local broadcasting licenses.
The agency made its case largely on technical, legal grounds and argued that ABC’s court challenge was premature because the agency hadn’t yet moved to strip the licenses.
Though the agency’s bid to dismiss the suit was expected, it tees up a major court test for President Trump’s campaign to punish the national press that he views as critical to him and his agenda.
The F.C.C. has been at the forefront. Under its chairman, Brendan Carr, the agency has started a number of actions involving ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company and regularly draws presidential fury.
ABC owns and operates eight local stations across the country, including in major markets like New York and Los Angeles. They can operate only with licenses controlled by the F.C.C.
The agency called for an unusual, early review of those licenses in April, citing an ongoing investigation into ABC’s diversity and inclusion practices. None of the ABC licenses, which have terms of eight years, were up for renewal for years.
Typically, the network would wait for the agency to move to revoke the licenses before it challenged the decision in an appellate court. But ABC filed for an emergency stay of the F.C.C. activity in U.S. District Court, arguing that the agency was using the regulatory process itself to abridge its speech rights.
In its motion, the F.C.C. asserted that ABC was trying to use the court to short-circuit the regulatory process and the investigation into the network’s practices.
“They have shown (at most) minimal and self-inflicted effects on speech, and no harms that could justify” blocking the agency’s moves, the F.C.C.’s suit read.
The agency said it had begun the early review of ABC’s stations because of what it called the network’s deficient response to its investigative demands in its diversity and inclusion inquiry — a claim the F.C.C. made again in its court filing.
But the review began immediately after Mr. Trump called on ABC to fire its late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, in April, when the comic angered the president and First Lady Melania Trump with a joke during one of his monologues.
If the F.C.C. moves to strip the licenses, it will effectively end ABC’s stations business. But the F.C.C. noted in its motion that ABC’s stations would still be allowed to operate, at least for as long as ABC was challenging such a decision in the courts.
The filing also highlighted comments from Mr. Carr that the agency is keeping an open mind on the subject.
Judge Loren L. AliKhan, who is presiding over the case, has set a hearing for the week of Oct. 5.
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