A bipartisan coalition of former Federal Communications Commission leaders warned the agency Tuesday that it is trampling constitutional protections and sending a dangerous message to broadcasters by entertaining petitions to deny ABC's license renewals for eight local television stations.
The group includes three former FCC chairs spanning decades: Mark S. Fowler from the Reagan era, Alfred C. Sikes from George H.W. Bush's administration, and Thomas E. Wheeler from Barack Obama's presidency. They were joined by other high-ranking former staffers and legal advisers.
The petitions to deny came from conservative groups the Media Research Center and the Center for American Rights following criticism of ABC by Donald Trump and Melania Trump. The FCC, now led by Brendan Carr, issued an unusual order in late April that moved ABC's license renewals to an expedited early schedule.
"This early license renewal proceeding is unprecedented in the history of the Federal Communications Commission and a grave violation of both the Communications Act and the Constitution," the coalition wrote. They argued the FCC is using the process to "censor Disney's and ABC's speech and send a chilling message to all broadcasters: carry speech we don't like at your peril."
The Center for American Rights accused ABC of ignoring journalistic standards and engaging in racial and gender discrimination. The coalition countered that such petitions ask the FCC to regulate content and viewpoint, an authority the agency does not possess under law.
"As former Chairs, Commissioners, Chiefs of Staff, General Counsels and Bureau Chiefs, we call on the Commission to respect the constitutional and congressional prohibitions on its 'power of censorship' and terminate this proceeding," the group stated.
The ex-officials framed the ABC case as part of a larger pattern. They called it "the latest attack in a sustained campaign by Chairman Carr and the Trump administration of threatening legal sanctions against licensees whose speech President Trump dislikes."
Reply comments on the petitions to deny are due by August 5. The FCC could then grant ABC's renewal requests, schedule hearings, or leave the matter unresolved. No timeline has been announced, leaving the network and its stations operating under regulatory uncertainty about their broadcasting future.
Author James Rodriguez: "Four decades of FCC leadership agreeing that this is constitutionally reckless tells you everything you need to know about how far Carr has pushed the agency off the rails."
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