Former Fox News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge got a major boost in her First Amemdment case Friday, after a federal appeals court judge reversed course and said she doesn’t have to pay a hefty daily fine for refusing to identify confidential sources.
District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the journalist would no longer have to pay a $800 daily contempt fine — which she started paying two weeks ago — until she has the chance to appeal to the Supreme Court.
As a result, she will be reimbimbursed the $14,400 in checks she has already written.
Herridge is expected to ask the Supreme Court later this month to hear her case, which stems from her 2017 reporting at Fox News on Yanping Chen, a Chinese-American scientist who was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation.
Chen sued the FBI and other government agencies in 2018 for allegedly violating the Privacy Act. Herridge became entangled in the case because Chen subpoenaed her as a third-party witness and has tried to pressure her to reveal the identities of her federal sources who leaked the records.
The journalist refused and was held in civil contempt in 2024 and ordered to fork over the steep $800-a-day fine to pressure her to unmask her sources. The former Fox News and CBS News investigative reporter appealed the decision, but last year, Cooper denied her plea to pause the fines.
Friday’s ruling marks a retreat from the judge’s prior decision amid pressure from media groups saying it hinders press freedom. Cooper also denied Chen’s recent motion to up Herridge’s daily $800 fine to $5,000.
Herridge declined to comment. Her lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Chen’s lawyer did not immediately comment.
When the appeals court upheld the contempt order last year, the Freedom of the Press Foundation called the decision “a significant blow to press freedom for all journalists.”
Fox News, which is paying for Herridge’s legal bills, similarly warned that “forcing a journalist to reveal a source not only threatens press freedom but chills investigative reporting that holds the powerful accountable.”
Herridge’s attorney Pat Philbin previously said she “remains committed to protecting reporters’ First Amendment rights and confidential sources.”
