In the 2009 case of Graham County Soil and Water Conservation District v. United States ex rel. Karen T. Wilson, the Supreme Court ruled on whether a whistleblower could bring a lawsuit under the False Claims Act based on information in public reports if that person was not an original source of the information. The plaintiff, Karen Wilson, alleged that local government entities had submitted false claims to federal disaster relief programs after severe flooding in North Carolina. However, her allegations were largely based on two state audit reports which had already been made public before she filed her suit. The court held by a majority decision (7-2) that such lawsuits are barred under provisions of the False Claims Act known as "public disclosure bar". This provision prevents individuals from bringing qui tam actions if their allegations are substantially similar to publicly disclosed information unless they can prove they were an 'original source' with direct and independent knowledge of this information prior to its public disclosure.

In the dissenting opinion of Graham County Soil and Water Conservation District v. United States ex rel. Karen T. Wilson, Justice Scalia argued that the majority misinterpreted the False Claims Act (FCA). He contended that Congress intended for all administrative reports, audits, and investigations to be treated equally under FCA's public disclosure bar regardless of their source or level of government involved in producing them. The majority’s interpretation would allow a private individual with no independent knowledge about fraud against federal funds to bring an action based on information contained in state or local reports which he believed was contrary to congressional intent when it enacted FCA's qui tam provisions.