Supreme Court weighs reporter’s privilege in $800-a-day contempt case

Former Fox News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling that ordered her to identify confidential sources behind her 2017 reporting on Yanping Chen. Herridge was held in civil contempt and ordered to pay $800 per day after refusing to reveal the identities of officials who helped expose Chen's alleged ties to China's military.

The dispute stems from a lawsuit filed by Chen against the federal government, alleging that officials improperly disclosed her private records to Herridge in violation of the Privacy Act. Chen seeks to compel Herridge to identify her sources to establish her claims, while Herridge's legal team argues that the lower courts failed to adequately weigh the broader national security implications of the disclosure.

The case highlights a longstanding disagreement among federal appeals courts over the scope of the reporter's privilege, an issue the Supreme Court has not comprehensively addressed in more than five decades. Herridge's attorneys contend that the D.C. Circuit applied a narrow test that does not sufficiently consider the strength of the underlying lawsuit or the consequences of compelling disclosure in sensitive government matters.

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