The New York Times has sued Attorney General John Ashcroft in attempt to block the government from obtaining phone records from two of its reporters in an investigation examining who leaked information about Islamic charities tied to suspected terrorists. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to determine whether Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon were tipped off about developments of an investigation of charities accused of having ties to terrorists after Sept. 11. The government is seeking all of the phone records made by both reporters in the 20 days after the Sept. 11 attacks. The TImes suit charges “Given the scope and the breadth of Mr. Shenon’s and Ms. Miller’s reporting in the fall of 2001, the records sought would likely reveal the identities of not one, or two, but dozens of confidential sources.”