In the current case, the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals has said prosecutors can see the journalists' phone records. Earlier, a federal judge had ruled in the newspaper's favor, saying the First Amendment supplied a qualified privilege to reporters to protect confidential sources.
On Friday, the newspaper asked Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to temporarily block the government from going through the records, and said it was prepared to file a petition by Dec. 24 asking the court to take up the case.
In its filing, the government cites a Nov. 13 declaration by Fitzgerald that says the time for filing criminal charges would expire in three weeks. Temporarily blocking the government from reviewing the phone records would cause "irreparable harm to a significant criminal investigation," the Justice Department told the court.
The reporters' stories disclosed the government's plans to freeze the assets of two Islamic charities, the Holy Land Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation. The freezing of assets was in connection with a terrorism-funding investigation.
The federal judge who ruled in the Times's favor said there is no evidence in the case that suggests the reporters tipped off the charities about the raids or that the reporters knew of the government's plans to raid either charity.
