Eleventh Circuit Upholds FCA Qui Tam Provisions Against Appointments Clause Challenge

In a much-anticipated False Claims Act (FCA) ruling, the Eleventh Circuit has joined every other circuit in considering the issue and holding that qui tam relators under the FCA are not “officers of the United States” subject to the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, thereby rejecting the constitutional challenge to the FCA’s qui tam provisions on that narrow ground.