Catherine Herridge Appeals to Supreme Court Over Source Confidentiality
Journalist Catherine Herridge is asking the Supreme Court to protect her confidential sources after a lower court imposed daily fines for her refusal to name them.
Investigative journalist Catherine Herridge is appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States to protect the confidentiality of her sources in the case Herridge v. Chen. The legal battle originated from a 2017 Fox News report that detailed connections between the University of Management and Technology and the Chinese military.
Yanping Chen, the university's founder and an alleged former colonel in the People's Liberation Army, filed a claim under the Privacy Act. Chen alleged that government officials illegally disclosed protected FBI investigation information to Herridge. In 2023, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Herridge to identify her sources and later held her in contempt, imposing a fine of $800 per day.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the ruling. Herridge argues that the appellate court's permissive standard for compelling disclosure threatens press freedom. The Supreme Court must now determine whether to grant review of the case to establish the legal standard required before a journalist can be forced to reveal confidential sources.
