A federal appeals court Tuesday temporarily blocked a judge's order requiring a former USA TODAY reporter to pay thousands of dollars in fines.

Toni Locy would not identify sources who named former Army scientist Steven Hatfill as a possible suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Lawyers for Locy, now a West Virginia University journalism professor, had requested that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit block the fines while they appeal a contempt order by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.

The fines of up to $5,000 a day were set to begin at midnight Tuesday. Walton had ordered that Locy — not her former employer or others — pay the fines as long as she refused to identify her sources who linked Hatfill to the attacks that killed five people.