Crystal-Ball Jurisprudence Critiqued
Client Alert | 1 min read | 04.17.09
In the ABA's latest edition of the Public Contract Law Journal (Winter 2009), Crowell & Moring's Rick Claybrook suggests in his article, Please Check Your Crystal Ball at the Courtroom Door--A Call for the Judiciary in Bid Protest Actions to Let Agencies Do Their Job, that the CFC and Federal Circuit need to reanalyze their review and use of the prejudice standard in bid protest actions. He suggests that the courts usurp the procuring agency's function when they prognosticate what the agency will do upon remand of an illegal procurement and outlines a more deferential prejudice standard.
Insights
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
