Contempt of court

Kansas reporter Claire O'Brien has been held in contempt of court and fined $1,000 after not appearing in court this morning to testify, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

She had previously been ordered by a Ford County court to testify about a confidential source and a jailhouse interview with a murder suspect in a grand jury proceeding. In that proceeding, she unsuccessfully argued that she was protected by a reporter's privilege. Currently, there is no shield law in Kansas.

Ireland's Supreme Court has ruled that the Irish Times was justified in protecting its confidential source for documents revealing a government corruption investigation.

According to The Associated Press, the Irish High Court in 2007 ordered the Times to identify its source for the documents, which came from a tribunal conducting a corruption inquiry. The Times editor and a reporter refused, saying the documents  had been destroyed.

A Texas blogger accused in a defamation and conspiracy lawsuit was jailed over Memorial Day weekend for contempt of court after failing to turn over a computer that she claims was stolen from her home, the Houston Chronicle reports.

The Associated Press reported Thursday on the ongoing legal woes of former USA Today reporter Toni Locy, who still faces the prospect of paying fees and attorney's costs after refusing to reveal her sources in onetime government scientist Steven Hatfill's Privacy Act lawsuit.  

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., will hear Toni Locy’s appeal of a contempt finding that could impose crippling fines on the former USA Today reporter.

Former Army scientist Steven Hatfill first subpoenaed Locy as a witness in his Privacy Act suit against the government for naming him as a “person of interest” in its investigation into the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people and left 17 others injured. 

The draconian contempt charges against reporter Toni Locy have been stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. We'll make any written decision available on our Toolkit and "Shields and Subpoenas" page as soon as we have it.

Attorneys for former USA Today reporter Toni Locy will ask a federal appeals court today for a stay of a contempt order for failing to cooperate in former Army scientist Steven J. Hatfill’s Privacy Act suit against the government.

Rebuffed by the Department of Justice after pushing for contempt charges to be brought against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, House Democrats filed a federal lawsuit today in a renewed attempt to force Bolten and Miers to testify before Congress.

A non-profit organization filed a motion in federal court Thursday, stating that the Bush administration made false and contradictory statements in court about the White House e-mail controversy.

In a hearing today, U. S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt will determine whether to hold Chuck Rosenthal, one of Texas’ leading prosecutors, in contempt of court for the deletion of over 2,500 subpoenaed e-mail messages.