Judge pauses $800-a-day fines for journo Catherine – Business News
Former Fox News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge obtained a main enhance in her First Amemdment case Friday, after a federal appeals courtroom decide reversed course and stated she doesn’t should pay a hefty each day superb for refusing to establish confidential sources.
District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the journalist would no longer should pay a $800 each day contempt superb — which she began paying two weeks in the past — till she has the prospect to appeal to the Supreme Court.
As a end result, she will likely be reimbimbursed the $14,400 in checks she has already written.
Ex-Fox News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge obtained a main enhance in her First Amemdment case, after a federal appeals courtroom decide stated she doesn’t should pay a hefty each day superb for refusing to establish confidential sources. Getty Images
Herridge is anticipated to ask the Supreme Court later this month to listen to 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 different authorities companies in 2018 for allegedly violating the Privacy Act. Herridge grew to become entangled within the case as a result of Chen subpoenaed her as a third-party witness and has tried to stress her to reveal the identities of her federal sources who leaked the information.
The journalist refused and was held in civil contempt in 2024 and ordered to fork over the steep $800-a-day superb to stress her to unmask her sources. The former Fox News and CBS News investigative reporter appealed the choice, however final yr, Cooper denied her plea to pause the fines.
Friday’s ruling marks a retreat from the decide’s prior determination amid stress from media teams saying it hinders press freedom. Cooper additionally denied Chen’s latest movement to up Herridge’s each day $800 superb to $5,000.
Yanping Chen sued the FBI, alleging federal officers unlawfully leaked protected info
about her to the media during a counterintelligence investigation. LinkedIn/Yanping Chen
Herridge declined to remark. Her lawyer didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Chen’s lawyer didn’t instantly remark.
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When the appeals courtroom upheld the contempt order final yr, the Freedom of the Press Foundation known as the choice “a significant blow to press freedom for all journalists.”
Fox News, which is paying for Herridge’s legal payments, equally 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 legal professional Pat Philbin beforehand stated she “remains committed to protecting reporters’ First Amendment rights and confidential sources.”
