White House and Military Departments Release Guidance as (Another) Budget Deadline Approaches
Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.18.13
In the past week, OMB, DoD, Army, Air Force, and Navy have all released guidance directing their subordinate entities to begin planning for the possibility of sequestration (presently scheduled to result in the cancellation of approximately $85 billion in FY13 budgetary resources) beginning on March 1, 2013, and for the expiration of the FY13 Continuing Appropriations Resolution (which expires on March 27, 2013, and must either be extended or replaced with new appropriations acts to prevent a lapse in appropriations and government shutdown). While the guidance cautions that efforts to prevent sequestration and ensure continued appropriations are underway, the memos acknowledge that, as a practical matter, agencies must begin planning for the possibility that they will need to operate with dramatically reduced budgetary resources.
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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
