$800-a-day penalty threatens to bleed investigative reporter dry as explosive legal fight escalates
Former Fox News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge is asking the Supreme Court to protect her confidential sources after a federal court ordered her to identify who helped expose a woman's...
By Fox News · Fox News
Former Fox News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge is asking the Supreme Court to protect her confidential sources after a federal court ordered her to identify who helped expose a woman's alleged ties to China's military. The outcome of the case could dramatically reshape the legal protections afforded to journalists working in the U.S. under the First Amendment. Herridge was held in contempt and ordered to pay $800 per day for refusing to reveal sources behind her 2017 reporting on Yanping Chen, a Chinese American businesswoman who operated a university attended by U.S. military personnel. Her reporting raised questions about Chen's alleged past as a colonel for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China and the potential exposure of sensitive information about American service members. The Department of War subsequently cut off military tuition assistance funding to Chen's university following a national security review , according to a filing by Herridge's legal team. The school had been receiving approximately $200,000 a month in taxpayer-funded tuition assistance. NEW YORK TIMES BLASTS ‘ABUSIVE’ TRUMP SUBPOENAS TARGETING REPORTERS’ SOURCES Now Chen, who was investigated by federal authorities but never charged with a crime, is pursuing a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that officials improperly disclosed her private records to Herridge in violation of the Privacy Act . She has sought to compel Herridge to identify her sources as part of that litigation. The dispute has reached the Supreme Court , where Herridge's attorneys are asking the justices to reconsider the legal standard used to force journalists to disclose confidential sources in civil cases. Her legal team argues that the lower courts failed to adequately weigh the broader circumstances of Chen's lawsuit, including the Pentagon's national security findings and whether Chen can ultimately prevail in her claims against the government. The case also exposes a longstanding disa…