Catherine Herridge has been ordered to disclose a confidential source — or pay $800 a day in court sanctions.
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The Supreme Court on Thursday let stand a lower-court order that forces former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge to either disclose a confidential source or pay $800 a day in court sanctions.
In a brief, unsigned order, the justices denied Herridge’s emergency application to stay the U.S. District Court for the D.C. Circuit’s sanctions against her for refusing to identify an anonymous source. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh noted he would have granted Herridge’s request for a stay.
Thursday’s order lifts a temporary stay that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. had granted Friday to give the court time to consider Herridge’s request.
An attorney for Herridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Protecting the confidentiality of journalistic sourcing and the integrity of the newsgathering process is fundamental to a free and functioning democracy,” Fox News Media said in a statement. “While we are deeply disappointed by the Court’s decision, our commitment to defending these critical First Amendment principles remains unwavering and we will be reviewing our options to further fight this injustice.”
Chinese American scientist Yanping Chen alleged in a 2018 lawsuit that Herridge, a veteran journalist who has worked for Fox News and now runs her own newsletter, breached federal privacy law by identifying details about her in Fox News stories published beginning in 2017. Herridge refused to explain how she learned of a federal probe into Chen, who operated a graduate program in Virginia.
In 2024, Herridge was held in contempt of court by U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper after refusing to disclose her source. A panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed that decision. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court declined a request to pause the contempt order against Herridge.
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Andrew C. Phillips, a lawyer for Chen, said he hoped the decision would bring the matter to a close.
“Dr. Chen, like any other American citizen, is entitled to discover the identity of the federal official(s) who abused their access to an American’s private information and leaked it to cause her harm,” he said in an email. “That type of corrupt, unlawful conduct is exactly what the Privacy Act was designed to address.”
In March 2016, after six years of investigation, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia informed Chen’s attorney that no charges would be filed against her.
Press freedom advocates had urged the high court to grant Herridge’s request in an amicus brief. They said Thursday’s decision will be detrimental.
“Journalists facing contempt should not have to muster large payments to the court while they seek to vindicate First Amendment rights,” Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a statement. “And forcing them to betray source confidences always has a harmful impact on the free flow of information to the public.”
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Scott Nover contributed to this report.
