Sen. Grassley Vehemently Opposes DOJ’s Stance on Dismissal Authority Under False Claims Act
On May 4, Senator Charles Grassley, author of the 1986 amendments to the False Claims Act and longtime champion of the FCA’s worth as “the government’s most powerful tool in deterring fraud and recovering federal funds lost to fraud,” sent a letter to Attorney General William P. Barr in response to DOJ’s current position regarding dismissals of qui tam FCA complaints.
In a brief filed against a certiorari petition before the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco argued that DOJ’s “dismissal authority of a qui tam False Claims Act case is an unreviewable exercise of prosecutorial authority” because “the plain language of the law grants [DOJ] unfettered discretion in the dismissal of such claims.” Senator Grassley said he “vehemently disagree[s] with the Department’s reading of the law” and emphasized that acceptance of DOJ’s reading would “create a chilling effect on future whistleblowers that will ultimately end up costing the taxpayers a lot more.”
