US reporter urges supreme court to halt ruling forcing her to reveal sources or pay $800-a-day fine

Catherine Herridge at the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington in April 2025. The case has concerned press advocates. Photograph: Paul Morigi/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Catherine Herridge at the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington in April 2025. The case has concerned press advocates. Photograph: Paul Morigi/Getty Images US reporter urges supreme court to halt ruling forcing her to reveal sources or pay $800-a-day fine Catherine Herrridge makes final bid to stave off penalty related to series of stories she wrote in 2017 for Fox News More than two years ago, a US district court judge took the extraordinary step of holding the veteran investigative journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt, ordering her to pay a steep daily fine of $800 per day unless she reveals her sources for a series of stories she wrote in 2017 for Fox News. Since then, the case has slowly moved through the appeals process, with Herridge dealt a series of defeats . On Tuesday, the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit issued a one-sentence ruling denying Herridge’s plea to stay the February 2024 ruling holding her in contempt, an order made by district court judge Christopher R Cooper. With time running out before the fine might go into effect, Herridge’s legal team is attempting one more legal maneuver to try to stave off the penalty. On Friday, Herridge filed a petition for a stay with the US supreme court. The petition was filed by Paul D Clement, a prominent appellate attorney who has also been retained by Disney to protest the Federal Communications Commission’s investigation of the ABC broadcast The View . John Roberts, the supreme court chief justice, responded to Herridge’s petition by issuing a stay of the appeals court’s rulings to give the other party in the case, Chinese American scientist Yanping Chen, until 1 July to file a response. Press advocates have long been extremely worried about the convoluted case , which stems from a privacy act lawsuit that was filed by Chen to uncover who might have provided information to Herridge about a US government investigation of her background and an educational program she operated in Virginia. Herridge was not named in the lawsuit, but Chen’s lawyers have argued that their client can only get justice if the journalist is compelled to reveal how she obtained information about the government’s investigation of Chen. Herridge, who worked at CBS News after leaving Fox, has refused to reveal her sources, believing it to be an abdication of her responsibility as a national security journalist – a position that press freedom groups have backed. Because there is no federal shield law protecting journalists from having to reveal their sources, the case shows the vulnerable position facing reporters who cover sensitive stories with national implications. It’s not clear yet whether Herridge would personally be on the hook for the $800 daily fee, or whether her employer at t