Mickey Mouse, Welcome to the Resistance

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The fight against the Trump administration’s media crackdowns just leveled up a notch. On Tuesday morning, Disney, ABC, and the network’s eight affiliate stations collectively filed a federal lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, arguing that the agency is violating the broadcaster’s First Amendment rights—and requesting that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia halt the FCC’s ongoing regulatory actions against ABC.

“The Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” the complaint reads up top.

It’s rare for any TV news outfit to call out its own regulators in such an unabashed manner. But, as Disney’s lawyers make clear, this was a long time coming. The filing keeps a diligent record of public statements made by President Donald Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr over the past two years, as they repeatedly excoriated ABC’s political coverage while threatening to revoke the licenses that allow it to operate over the public airwaves.

More recently, Carr made a move toward realizing this power grab in April, when he formally asked that Disney submit early renewal applications for ABC’s eight licensed regional affiliates—even though all those stations’ contracts remain in effect until 2028 or later. The FCC had framed this historically unprecedented order as part of a long-running investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. The agency’s request also landed immediately after the president had, once again, excoriated ABC’s political coverage, aiming special ire at the Trump-critical hosts of The View and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In the months since the FCC’s initial letter , the alarming threat it presented to ABC’s press freedoms only became more apparent. Disney was willing to submit the premature renewal applications, and a flood of more than 150,000 comments to the FCC, from a swath of cross-partisan advocates, demonstrated overwhelming public support for ABC. Last month, however, leaks from the FCC indicated that Carr was ready to make binding rulings that would change The View ’s programming structure and bring ABC’s broadcast licenses closer to total revocation. Hence, Disney writes, it had “no choice” but to take legal action against this “existential threat.” The message is clear: Disney is ready for battle, and it is waging this war not just on its own behalf, but for the sake of American journalism as a whole.

“If the Administration gets its way, the message to every media company in the country will be unmistakable: tell only the stories the Administration deems favorable, or face the coercive machinery of the federal government,” the lawsuit states.

It’s a remarkable, bold stance for Disney to take at this moment, just two years after it settled a weak personal lawsuit from Trump over host George Stephanopoulos’ technically true utterance that the then candidate had been found “liable for rape” in a federal case filed by E. Jean Carroll.