Former Fox News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge has asked the Supreme Court to protect her confidential sources after a federal court ordered her to identify those who helped expose a woman's alleged ties to China's military. The outcome could significantly reshape the First Amendment protections available to journalists in the United States.
Herridge was held in contempt and ordered to pay $800 for each day she refuses to reveal the sources behind her 2017 reporting on Yanping Chen, a Chinese American businesswoman who ran a university attended by U.S. military personnel. The reporting raised questions about Chen's alleged past as a colonel in China's People's Liberation Army and the possible exposure of sensitive information about American service members.
The investigation, published while Herridge was at Fox News, examined Chen's background and her operation of the University of Management and Technology in Arlington, Virginia, which enrolled service members using Defense Department tuition assistance. It included photographs that appeared to show Chen in a Chinese military uniform and explored claims that she concealed her earlier military service when applying for U.S. immigration benefits. It also raised concerns about the school's collection of information on service members, including their training and professional backgrounds. A whistleblower interviewed for the story alleged that data on the school's computers could be accessed remotely from China.
Federal authorities had earlier investigated Chen over possible immigration violations and counterintelligence concerns, but prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia declined to bring charges. According to a filing by Herridge's legal team, the Pentagon later completed a national security review and ended the university's eligibility for military tuition assistance. The school had been receiving roughly $200,000 a month in taxpayer-funded assistance.
Chen has since sued the federal government, alleging that officials improperly disclosed her private records to Herridge in violation of the Privacy Act. She argues that she must identify the officials responsible to establish her claims, and she sought to compel Herridge to name her sources. Herridge refused, saying forced disclosure would weaken the ability of journalists to obtain sensitive information from government officials and whistleblowers.
A federal judge ordered Herridge to disclose the sources and held her in civil contempt when she declined. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld that order, leading to her appeal to the Supreme Court. Fox News Media has continued to back her legal fight, including paying her legal fees, even though she left the network in 2019.
Her petition asks the justices to reconsider how courts weigh a journalist's claim of privilege when confidential sources are sought in civil litigation. It argues that the D.C. Circuit applied a narrow test centered mainly on whether Chen needed the information and whether she had exhausted other ways of obtaining it. Herridge's attorneys say courts should also consider the strength of the underlying lawsuit, the Pentagon's national security findings, and the consequences of compelling disclosure, especially where confidential national security sources may be involved.
The case also highlights a longstanding split among federal appeals courts over the scope of the reporter's privilege, an issue the Supreme Court has not comprehensively addressed in more than five decades. According to the petition, under the standard being challenged a plaintiff could obtain a reporter's confidential sources even if other flaws in the lawsuit would ultimately prevent any recovery of damages. That distinction could matter greatly to journalists covering sensitive government matters.
