The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the False Claims Act's qui tam provision was constitutional, allowing whistleblowers to bring lawsuits against fraudsters on behalf of the federal government and share in recoveries.

The ruling comes after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley submitted an amicus brief to the Eleventh Circuit last year backing the provision.

“The Eleventh Circuit just delivered a major win for whistleblowers and taxpayers alike," Grassley said in a statement. "The False Claims Act is the government’s greatest fraud-fighting tool, and patriotic whistleblowers who use the qui tam provision often contribute to the lion’s share of recoveries. It’s not an exaggeration to say this court decision saves billions of taxpayer dollars from being lost to fraud and deters would-be fraudsters from wasting even more.”

Grassley updated the False Claims Act in 1986 to enable the government to recover taxpayer dollars from entities that defrauded federal agencies, which included the provision that allows whistleblowers to sue alleged fraudsters.

The False Claims Act has since recovered approximately $85 billion in taxpayer dollars, including more than $6.8 billion in fraudulent payments in fiscal year 2025 alone.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.