Leggett was found in contempt of court on July 20, 2001, by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon. On November 15, attorney Michael DeGeurin disclosed that the 5th Circuit denied his request for a full hearing. In August, a three-judge panel had upheld the contempt ruling.

Leggett initially cooperated with a subpoena from the local prosecutor and turned over copies of notes and tapes of an interview she conducted during her research. When the federal grand jury demanded all of her files and information she refused.

"The government is trying to use her as their investigative tool," DeGeurin told the Houston Chronicle.

Leggett has since said she now regrets cooperating with the authorities in the first place. She will be appealing the ruling to the United States Supreme Court.

National and international support has been won in defense of Leggett's democratic rights. On November 21, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee called on U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft to free Leggett. In a letter to Ashcroft she said, "Ms. Leggett presents no risk of flight, nor does she pose any threat to society or herself. Her only 'crime' was to protect her confidential sources in keeping with the traditional constitutional notions of a free press."

In addition, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press continues to work for her release. A photo of Leggett in her prison uniform is featured on the committee's web site, along with a tally of the numbers of days she has spent behind bars. Dozens of organizations have called for her release including the Inter American Press Association, the Center for Individual Freedom, and the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.

Leggett is by far the longest-held of any of the journalists who have refused to divulge their sources. In 1978, Myron Farber of the New York Times was held for 40 days in a local criminal case. In 1972, William Farr, then with the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, was jailed for 76 days for not turning over the source of leaked documents in the Charles Manson trial.  
 
 
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