Supreme Court declines to halt $800-a-day fine for ex-Fox News reporter refusing to divulge sources

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to intervene after a judge ordered a former Fox News reporter to be fined $800 a day if she refuses to reveal her confidential source for stories about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged.

The high court rebuffed an emergency appeal from Catherine Herridge. The veteran investigative reporter has been held in civil contempt as part of a lawsuit that scientist Yanping Chen filed against the government over the leak.

Chief Justice John Roberts previously put a short-term hold on the fine as the court considered the appeal. On Thursday, the court said it was denying Herridge’s bid to stay the fine. Justice Brett Kavanaugh supported granting the application for a stay, the court said.

Herridge published a series for Fox News in 2017 that examined Chen’s ties to the Chinese military and raised questions about whether the scientist was using a professional school she founded in Virginia to help the Chinese government get information about American servicemembers.

The stories relied on what Chen’s lawyers say were items leaked from the probe into statements she made on immigration forms related to work on a Chinese astronaut program.

Those include snippets of an FBI document summarizing an interview conducted during the investigation, personal photographs, and information taken from her immigration and naturalization forms and from an internal FBI PowerPoint presentation, according to court documents.

The six-year probe never resulted in charges against Chen, and in 2018 she sued the FBI and the Justice Department.

Her suit said that both her personal and professional life were upended amid a wave of negative media attention after the leak, leading to hate mail and death threats. She accused the government of violating the Privacy Act, which prohibits the public disclosure of private information about individuals without their consent.

A judge ordered Herridge to answer questions about her source or sources in a deposition with Chen’s lawyers. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington ruled that Chen’s need to know for the sake of her lawsuit overcame Herridge’s right to shield her source.

Herridge was interviewed under oath but declined to answer questions about her sources. The judge eventually held her in contempt, and the fine was set to begin after the order was upheld by an appeals court panel.

The case has been being closely watched by media advocates, who say forcing journalists to betray a promise of confidentiality could make sources think twice before providing information to reporters that could expose government wrongdoing.

Chen’s lawyers say they have exhausted other ways to identify the leaker, and the identity is key to making their case that the Privacy Act was violated.

Herridge reported for Fox News and CBS News before recently becoming an independent journalist.