The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday blocked fines up to $5,000 that USA Today former reporter Toni Locy was ordered to pay each day she refuses to reveal her confidential sources for stories about 2001 anthrax attacks.

On Friday, US District Judge Reggie Walton ordered Locy to reveal the names of confidential sources involved in the 2001 anthrax attacks. At the time, she wrote about former Army scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, whom the Justice Department identified in 2002 as a “person of interest” in the anthrax attacks, which led to 5 victims and other 17 people sickened weeks after the terrorist strikes of September 11, 2001.

Starting at midnight Tuesday, Locy was to have paid out of her own funds $500 a day for seven days, $1,000 a day for seven days and $5,000 a day thereafter until she was to have appeared in court April 3. Judge Walton also ordered that Ms. Locy pay the fines with no help from her employer, friends, family, or anonymous supporters.

Appeals court Judges Douglas Ginsburg, Judith Rogers and Brett Kavanaugh ruled against Judge Reggie Walton, stating that monetary sanctions should be stayed while Locy continues the appeal process, meaning that she will not have to pull any money out of her pocket yet, pending how the appeal goes.
 
Locy was more than happy to hear the verdict.

"I am relieved and thankful that the court of appeals has found that my legal arguments are worthy of consideration," Locy, who now holds the Shott Chair of Journalism at West Virginia University, said, according to the Associated Press.