The Supreme Court just hung a reporter out to dry. On Thursday, the high court refused to step in and stop an $800-a-day fine targeting Catherine Herridge, a veteran investigative journalist who refuses to betray the confidential source behind her stories on a Chinese American scientist. The scientist was once the target of a federal probe but never faced charges.
Herridge, formerly of Fox News and CBS, is currently stuck in civil contempt. It stems from a lawsuit filed by the scientist, Yanping Chen, who sued the federal government over the leak. Chief Justice John Roberts had temporarily paused the daily fines while the court muddled through the emergency appeal. That pause is gone. The court denied Herridge’s request to keep the fines on ice, though Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted he would have granted the stay.
This is a mess. Back in 2017, Herridge ran a series for Fox News digging into Chen’s alleged ties to the Chinese military. The reports questioned whether a professional school Chen founded in Virginia was a front to funnel info about U.S. military personnel to Beijing. Fox News Media released a statement calling the court’s move disappointing, reiterating that protecting sources is fundamental to a free press. Herridge’s legal team didn’t immediately fire back with a comment.
Chen’s lawyers claim the stories used leaked material from an FBI investigation into statements Chen made on immigration forms. We are talking about snippets of FBI interview summaries, personal photos, and slides from an internal FBI PowerPoint. The feds spent six years digging. They found nothing to charge her with. In 2018, Chen sued the FBI and the Justice Department, claiming the leak ruined her life, brought death threats, and violated the Privacy Act.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that Chen’s right to know who leaked her file trumped Herridge’s right to protect her source. Herridge sat for a deposition but kept her mouth shut when asked about her contacts. The judge slapped her with contempt.
Press freedom advocates are sweating. If reporters can be squeezed like this, sources will dry up. Nobody talks to the press if they think their name will be coughed up under a judge’s pressure. Bruce Brown, head of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, called the financial pressure on journalists vindictive. Meanwhile, Chen’s lawyer, Andrew Phillips, argued his client has a right to find the federal official who weaponized her private data. For now, the meter is running on Herridge’s fine.
