On May 27, 2026, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Division, Brett Shumate, announced that civil lawyers within the DOJ and U.S. Attorney’s Offices will need to fast-track and prioritize sealed False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam cases involving fraud against federally funded state administered benefits programs. According to the DOJ’s announcement, the Civil Division intends to evaluate these sealed matters within 60 days where possible, and no later than 120 days, pursuant to a March 2026 executive-order-driven enforcement initiative. This directive will require the DOJ’s civil lawyers to issue subpoenas, review records, and conduct interviews in an unusually compressed timetable.
This development has immediate consequences for recipients of Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs). For these state-based benefit matters, this directive will require companies and other entities that receive CIDs for documents, interrogatory responses, or testimony to mobilize quickly, preserve relevant information immediately, and make early strategic decisions about response scope and privilege. Extended deadline continuances may become harder to obtain if the DOJ is operating under internal review clocks tied to sealed-case decision points.
This accelerated decision schedule will necessarily shift the burden of litigation to relators and their lawyers requiring them to handle the resulting litigation with a minimal burden on the government. That...
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