WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 Monday Freedom of Information Act disclosures cannot be used in federal whistle-blower suits.
The U.S. False Claims Act, designed to recover fraudulently obtained federal funds, allows private whistle-blower lawsuits but bars them when they are "based upon the public disclosure of allegations or transactions in a criminal, civil or administrative hearing, in a congressional, administrative or Government Accounting Office report, hearing, audit or investigation, or from the news media."