Whistleblowers Pursue Private Interests, US Tells Appeals Court

The False Claims Act’s whistleblower provisions don’t violate Article II of the Constitution, US prosecutors told the 11th Circuit Monday, and therefore a family physician’s suit alleging Medicare fraud should be reinstated.

Every court that addressed the constitutionality of the FCA’s whistleblower provisions—aside from the Florida federal district court that dismissed the suit—has upheld them, the government told the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in its brief. “This Court should join that consensus and reverse the district court’s outlier ruling,” the prosecutors said.

The district court erred in its application of the appointments clause; incorrectly suggested that ...