Rhetoric: Yes — Substance: Not Yet
Client Alert | 1 min read | 04.19.17
On April 18, 2017, the president signed an Executive Order taking a modest step towards implementing his Buy American and Hire American campaign promise. With respect to Buy American, the EO directs all agencies to review all domestic preferences applicable to federal procurements or grants (collectively Buy American Laws) and propose policies to ensure maximum use of U.S. manufactured products and components. The Secretary of Commerce is to consolidate the agency findings and recommendations into a report that also assesses the impact that various WTO and Free Trade Agreements have had on buying U.S. made goods, with annual reports to follow. Effective more immediately, any public interest waivers should be made by the head of the agency involved, maximize utilization of domestic products and material, and consider whether any foreign cost advantage is the result of unfair trade practices. Signaling the potential for increased enforcement efforts, the EO requires every agency to "scrupulously monitor, enforce, and comply with Buy American Law." With respect to Hire American, the EO directs DHS, DOL, and other relevant agencies to propose reforms to ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest paid petition beneficiaries and that the immigration system is administered to protect the interests of U.S. workers, including through the prevention of fraud and abuse.
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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
