Disney Sues FCC Over 'Retaliatory' ABC License Threat

The complaint calls the FCC's conduct an "extraordinary assault on free speech" and argues the agency has boxed the network in. "Any FCC adjudication would be a charade," it says. "The Commission cannot lawfully grant renewal this early in the license terms—the only outcomes on the table are adverse to Plaintiffs."

The filing warns the FCC could either drag the case out for years or "use the hearing to deny license renewal or immediately revoke the Stations' licenses, forcing Plaintiffs off the air entirely, as the President has repeatedly demanded."

ABC also argues the pressure is aimed at the whole industry: "ABC is the visible target and suffers the most immediate harm, but the message is addressed to every broadcaster in the country, and the ultimate cost is borne by the press as a whole."

Carr did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment, and an FCC spokesman did not immediately return Deadline's request for comment.

A range of First Amendment groups have denounced the action against ABC. Some conservative groups have backed Carr. "It is not in the public interest for ABC to operate as an arm of the DNC," Daniel Suhr, president of the Center for American Rights and a Carr ally, said earlier this year.