Disney and ABC squared off against the Trump administration's Federal Communications Commission in federal court Tuesday, arguing that the agency's surprise early review of ABC's broadcast licenses amounts to government censorship dressed up as regulation.

During a two-hour hearing in Washington, Disney attorney Beth Wilkinson told U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan that the threat of losing ABC's station licenses is already changing what the network puts on air. According to HuffPost's courtroom account, Wilkinson pointed to ABC's decision not to broadcast a Trump speech on election security in July as a direct example of "different editorial decisions" being made under pressure.

"Our concern is that we are chilled. We are making different editorial decisions," Disney attorney Beth Wilkinson told the court.

A Review With No Precedent in 50 Years

At issue is an order by FCC Chair Brendan Carr demanding that all eight ABC-owned stations submit license-renewal applications years ahead of schedule — even though those licenses aren't due for renewal until 2028. Disney and ABC sued the FCC in August, calling the early review an "extraordinary assault on free speech" and noting the agency hadn't ordered such an early review of any broadcaster in more than 50 years.

Carr ordered the review one day after President Trump publicly demanded that ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. The FCC has also separately opened an investigation into ABC's daytime talk show The View, and has pursued license threats against NBC after it, too, declined to air a Trump address.

Judge AliKhan pressed the government's lawyer, Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel, on why ABC's stations were singled out for an expedited review when the FCC has unresolved paperwork disputes with countless other licensees, according to the Detroit News's report on the hearing. Georgiev-Remmel argued Disney would keep its licenses through the normal administrative and judicial process regardless of how the case unfolds, and that blocking the review now would hamstring the FCC's separate investigation into Disney's diversity policies — an allegation Disney denies.

The FCC has agreed to give Disney at least 48 hours' notice before referring the license matter to a formal public hearing, though Carr says he hasn't decided whether he'll do that.

Judge AliKhan did not rule from the bench. Instead, she ordered both sides to file additional written arguments — the Justice Department by October 9 and Disney by October 14 — pushing any decision on Disney's bid to pause the license review to mid-October at the earliest.

The case is being watched closely across the broadcast industry as a test of how far the FCC can go in using its licensing power against networks whose coverage draws the president's ire, with media law experts and press-freedom groups tracking the ruling as a potential precedent for future fights between the White House and broadcasters.