ABC just stopped playing nice with Trump, and this time it came with lawyers, constitutional arguments, and a very pointed reminder that the FCC already signed off on this whole thing decades ago.
The Disney-owned network filed a formal First Amendment petition against the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, May 7, accusing the agency of going after The View in a way the filing calls “unprecedented” and “beyond the Commission’s authority.”
The petition, filed on behalf of ABC’s Houston affiliate KTRK and first reported by The New York Times, argues that the FCC’s actions “threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to ‘The View’ and more broadly.”
And honestly, ABC did not write this filing like a company trying to keep the peace.
For months now, FCC chairman Carr has been turning up the pressure on ABC from multiple directions. He launched a separate investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, questioned whether The View still deserves the legal protections it has held since 2002, and called several Disney-owned local stations in for early license renewal reviews.
Then came the timing that felt almost too on-the-nose for political television drama. The renewal notice arrived one day after Donald Trump publicly called for the firing of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
ABC’s filing did not bother softening its frustration either: “The Commission’s order to file this Petition for Declaratory Ruling is unprecedented, beyond the Commission’s authority, and counterproductive to the Commission’s stated goal of encouraging free speech and open political discussion.”
Duhh, the FCC Approved the View‘s Status. In 2002
This is where the whole fight starts getting awkward for the FCC, because ABC is not defending some brand-new loophole or experimental policy. The network is defending a classification that the FCC itself already approved years ago.
ABC stated in the filing that “it has never been disputed that The View qualifies as a bona fide news interview program” and that in 2002, the network “requested and obtained a Declaratory Ruling from the Mass Media Bureau confirming that status.” According to the filing, that ruling has remained untouched for 24 years.
That classification matters because it exempts qualifying programs from the Equal Time Rule, which requires broadcasters to give competing political candidates comparable airtime when one candidate appears on a show.
In March 2026, however, the FCC directed KTRK to file a new request proving The View still qualifies for that exemption. The trigger was a February 2026 appearance by James Talarico, a Democratic Senate candidate from Texas. Carr then announced the agency was exploring “an enforcement action” tied to the interview.
He had already written in a January release shared on X that late-night and daytime programs had an “obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities.” Then, on April 28, Carr told the Katie Miller Podcast that “questions have been raised about whether they are, in fact, bona fide news.”
ABC responded directly in the filing, and the network clearly wanted that point to hit hard: “Some may dislike certain… or even most of the viewpoints expressed on ‘The View’ or similar shows. Such dislike, however, cannot justify using regulatory processes to restrict those views.”
Plot Twist: ABC Lawyer Is a George W. Bush Republican
ABC also made a very strategic choice with the lawyer it brought in to handle this fight.
The network hired Paul Clement, who served as solicitor general under George W. Bush, to sign the petition. So this was not ABC rolling out a predictable “Hollywood liberal media” defense package. The filing leaned heavily into constitutional language instead.
“The government should neither suppress nor compel speech in support of any political viewpoint.”
The petition also accused the FCC of selectively applying its rules, specifically citing conservative hosts Mark Levin and Glenn Beck. Their programs regularly feature political candidates, according to the filing, without attracting the same FCC scrutiny.
“Such a clear disparity in the treatment of broadcasters that ought to be subject to the same treatment under law raises serious concerns about viewpoint discrimination and retaliatory targeting,” the petition states.
ABC also argued that the practical consequences could get ridiculous very quickly. The filing pointed to California’s upcoming gubernatorial jungle primary, where equal-time obligations could force stations to air more than 60 candidates, regardless of their actual news value.
Then the filing broadened the argument, essentially pointing out that this is not 1962 anymore. “Indeed, the marketplace of ideas has never been more robust, and people can hear virtually any brand of political commentary by listening to a podcast, watching cable, scrolling social media, or streaming on a phone, computer, or connected TV. The free flow of ideas flourishes on these non-broadcast platforms even though the equal opportunities rule does not apply there.”
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The Chilling Effect Already Hit CBS, and Jimmy Kimmel Saw It Coming
ABC is not arguing this as some hypothetical future problem. The filing arrived after other networks had already started reacting cautiously to FCC pressure.
Back in January, after Carr posted his equal time notice on X, Kimmel addressed it directly on his own show. He warned viewers that the FCC was “coming for us again” and referenced the 2006 ruling that exempted The Tonight Show after Jay Leno interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger during the California governor’s race.
“That’s how every talk show has operated since then, until this week,” Kimmel said. He later added: “It’s a sneaky little way of keeping viewpoints that aren’t his off air. It’s his latest attack on free speech, and it’s a joke because this isn’t the ’50s anymore. Back then, there were only three major networks.”
Then things moved from warnings to actual consequences.
By February 16, Stephen Colbert revealed on The Late Show that CBS lawyers told him he “could not” air an interview with Talarico on broadcast television because of the FCC’s equal airtime rule. The interview went to YouTube instead, where those rules do not apply.
That detail matters because Talarico is the same candidate whose View appearance kicked off this entire FCC investigation in the first place.
The FCC later publicly defended its position, saying equal time laws prevent broadcasters from putting “a thumb on the scale” politically and confirming that it would review Disney’s claim that The View qualifies as a “bona fide news program.”
ABC also pushed back against Carr’s separate accusation that Disney failed to cooperate with the DEI investigation, stating it had already turned over roughly 11,000 documents.
And sitting underneath all of this is ABC’s history with Trump himself. The network paid $15 million in 2024 to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by the president.
This new filing signals a much sharper posture. Because if a federal agency can reopen a classification it approved 24 years ago without a new law or overturned ruling, every broadcaster heading into the 2026 midterms suddenly has a reason to start sweating a little.