Federal judge held journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt and imposed an $800-a-day fine for refusing to reveal a confidential source

On February 29, 2024, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper held journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt and ordered an escalating fine of $800 per day for refusing to reveal the confidential source behind her 2017 Fox News reporting. The contempt finding arose from a Privacy Act lawsuit that Dr. Yanping Chen, a naturalized U.S. citizen, brought against the federal government, alleging officials illegally disclosed records from a closed FBI investigation into her that were later reported by Herridge. To pursue that suit, Chen sought to compel Herridge to identify who had leaked the records.

Cooper, an Obama appointee, ruled that Chen's need for the information overcame Herridge's asserted First Amendment reporter's privilege and ordered her to answer; when she refused, he held her in contempt. The fine was stayed pending Herridge's appeal, so no payments were due at the time of the order.

First Amendment advocates warned that allowing escalating daily fines to coerce a journalist into naming a confidential source weakens the protections that make investigative reporting possible, eliminating the practical value of reporter's privilege regardless of its formal legal status.

Updates

2025-09-30 — D.C. Circuit unanimously affirmed the contempt order [4]

A three-judge D.C. Circuit panel unanimously rejected Herridge's appeal, ruling she could not assert a qualified reporter's privilege to quash the subpoena. The panel declined to recognize a federal common-law newsgathering privilege, finding Chen had satisfied the two-part test for overcoming the privilege. The court left the $800-a-day fine in place, to take effect if Herridge did not obtain further review.

2026-07-02 — Supreme Court declined to stay the fine, clearing it to take effect [5]

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Herridge's emergency application to halt the $800-a-day fine while she sought further review. The unsigned, three-sentence order gave no reasoning; Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted he would have granted the stay. Chief Justice John Roberts had earlier paused the fine administratively while the Court considered the application, so the denial cleared the way for the daily penalty to take effect.